Home is Where Our Journies End
by Bryon Nightshade
Summary: Amy is thrown into another world. There are some familiar faces, but everything seems wrong, somehow... Crossover, and a study on how our worlds affect our characters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: all of the characters and situations in this story are copyright one or more of the following: Sega, DiC. This story is copyright Sam Durbin, a.k.a. Bryon Nightshade, and is bound by all applicable laws and statutes.

Author's note: This is a reprint of a story I published long ago. It was removed, and the reason why was not disclosed. Since I have no idea why that happened, I'm simply putting the original back up. Enjoy.

* * *

Amy Rose sized up her target and tried to suppress the growing fear within her.

This was going to be tricky. Odds were that the target would run away, though there was a possibility it might hurt her considerably, depending on what happened. There was a slim chance she would succeed… and that slim chance was enough motivation for Amy Rose to take the risk.

She swallowed hard, gathered up her courage, ignored her racing pulse, put on a cheerful face, and walked towards the target, screaming "Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog jerked at the sound. From his seat in the open-air café, he turned apprehensively. "Amy!"

"That's right!" she said cheerfully. She was close now, every moment she was getting closer. Walking now, not running, trying not to scare him off. "I've been looking for you."

"I know you have," said Sonic, who was nonetheless grabbing at something around his ankle. "Listen, Amy, what do you want?"

"To date you," Amy blurted. She regretted it immediately. It was more subtle than "marry you," which was her usual line, but—

Sonic's eyes widened considerably. He brought his hand back up and laid a few bills on the café table. "Keep the change!" he shouted, then exploded into action. Even Amy, who was used to his movements, had trouble tracking him. There he went, down 3rd Street!

"Sonic!" Amy said. Her voice was anguished, but that was only part of what she felt. It's not like this was anything new. It was, in fact, comforting. It was normal. She chased him, he ran. It meant, ironically, that she was making progress; he certainly wasn't ignoring her.

And it had to count for something that he wasn't running at top speed. He could lose her easily if he went all out, yet that never seemed to happen. She smiled to herself.

This time, it wouldn't be normal.

Somehow, her footsteps stopped making any sound. Then she lost touch with the ground below. She looked down—it was like staring into a deep well. Some kind of apparatus on the sides, then inky nothingness.

Then she was falling, falling, forever falling…

* * *

Down, down, down she went, ever further into the darkness. There was no way to measure time; however long it was had to be too long. Amy's insides roiled as they tried to figure out what was happening. It wasn't falling like jumping from a height; it was more like drifting towards the side of a pool.

A speck of light caught her attention, and slowly grew. As far as Amy could tell, she was "falling" in that direction. No move she made had any effect—the speck always had the same orientation.

As she drew closer, the speck took on a greenish color and grew. Eventually, it encompassed her whole vision, and she realized it was grass.

Abruptly the strange sensations cut out, and gravity took over.

"Ooph!"

The air fled from her body at the impact. It wasn't as bad as it should have been given how long she'd been "falling", but she wasn't tallying her good fortune at this point.

She heard water flowing nearby. She needed to get her bearings, but the fall had robbed her of strength. She couldn't rise.

"Is she okay?"

That voice! It was something she knew, something so familiar. She looked up as much as she could manage…

"Sonic!" she squeaked without breath.

His appearance was almost enough to drive her to her feet—but he was wrong, somehow. His build was different, and his eyes were black instead of green.

"Did she just say your name?"

With all of the colors swimming in Amy's vision, it was difficult to figure out where the sounds were coming from. Her eyes wandered and drifted—on some level she knew she was about to lose it, but she needed to see. That had been a female voice, who did it belong to?

Was that… a person? Flashes of brown and blue…

"Help me out here, Sal!"

The world stretched into bands of color, the colors blurred, and she…

* * *

"Come on, admit it. You laughed."

"Okay, I laughed, but I really didn't want to."

"Part of you must've wanted to, or you wouldn't have done it!"

"That's not true…"

"Admit it. It was funny."

"It was juvenile."

"C'mon!"

"You put ants in his uniform."

"See? Practical joke and pun in one shot. Can't beat that!"

"Honestly, you thought that was funny? Ants?"

"'Course. And you're not foolin' anyone by hidin' your face."

"Why do you do things like that?"

"Got to. It's just how it works. I mean, he invites it on himself!"

"But why Antoine? I know he's… your favorite target, but can't you go after someone else some time?"

"I'm not touchin' Rotor. He'll get back at me with something sneaky! Never trust the smart ones, I say."

"Which means you either don't trust me, or don't think I'm very smart. Which is it?"

"Well… um…"

"Come on, which is it?"

"You're gonna hurt me no matter what I say, aren't ya?"

"Probably."

"Fine then, we'll skip that part. I'm gonna check up on the girl."

Amy opened her eyes.

She was lying in a rustic room, very plain. Clean, white sheets under her on the bed, a few wooden chairs, an open-air window with wooden shutters. It was a bit hot. As Amy looked, she couldn't see any signs that electricity flowed through here.

She turned her attentions to the door. She'd heard voices just now—one female voice, one male. The male voice had sounded like Sonic's, but that didn't make sense. Nothing made sense, but especially not that. The male voice had said he was coming to check on her, and sure enough, the door knob rotated and a blue head popped in.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled in delight. So it was him after all!

No—it was almost-Sonic. His eyes were wrong, his build was wrong—and his attitude was wrong. He withdrew the moment she said his name.

"Sal? You handle this. Something about this creeps me out." That was Sonic's voice, much to Amy's disappointment.

"No problem," answered the female voice. The owner of the voice entered the room, and Amy knew it was a whole new ballgame.

Brown fur throughout, somewhat lighter on the face and torso. Auburn hair, cropped short. Very slender, but deceptively so, as if the thinness was a disguise of some kind. Almost no tail. Age was hard to determine; physically she didn't seem fully developed, but she felt old. For clothes, naught but a blue vest and blue boots. A head that seemed a size too large for that body.

And eyes—vibrant, intelligent, appraising eyes, sparkling blue in color.

She spoke with measured kindness. "I'm Sally." She pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, looking Amy in the eyes. "What's your name?"

"Amy," she responded. "Amy Rose."

Sally smiled. "It's a good name. Welcome to Knothole Village."

"Where?"

It was the first thing Amy could think of; she said it because she had to say something. Things were just too bizarre to try nothing.

"Knothole," Sally repeated. "You've probably never heard of it."

"Well," said Amy, gathering herself and trying to think logically, "what country am I in?"

Sally looked uncomfortable. "Amy… it's hard to say this… I don't think you're on the right planet."

She waited for the words to sink in, but Amy merely blinked in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? The right planet?"

Sally reached down to her boot. Amy noticed, for the first time, a small grey box attached to the boot. Sally unclipped the box, unfolded it, and said, "Nicole, display image 'hole1'."

The box displayed a hologram in the air between the girls. Amy didn't know how to divide her attention. The box—obviously some sort of computer, way more powerful than any Amy knew of—was impressive enough, particularly in a place with no air conditioning. But the image it projected…

"That's the hole I fell through," she said.

She wasn't quite sure how she knew this, for the image was a weird one. It looked like a normal forest clearing, except that suspended in the air was a hole. The hole had no depth, just a circle of absolute blackness hanging by itself.

"That's right," Sally confirmed. "I got this image after you fell through. As far as we can tell, it's a hole between dimensions."

Once more Amy found herself unable to speak. Sally waited for her to respond, but it was a struggle to find anything sensible to say. "Can you… say that to me again?" Amy said.

"It's a hole between dimensions," Sally repeated. "You've been pulled from your world to ours. We don't know how or why."

Panic filled Amy's heart. "Where… where am I?" she said breathlessly. "What country?"

"The Kingdom of Acorn," Sally said. Amy normally would have noticed the shadow that descended on Sally's face at the words, but she was preoccupied.

"What continent?"

"The Main Continent."

"What… planet?"

"Mobius."

Amy felt herself getting light-headed. Sally, whose voice had remained calm all the while, eased the younger girl backwards. "Relax," she said. "It's a lot to handle, I know. We'll help you any way we can, but right now, you need to rest."

Amy was hyperventilating. "Where… Sonic, I have to see Sonic!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Sally.

"Sonic!"

Sally hesitated, then turned to the door. "Sonic," she called.

The blue face appeared again. Amy had counted on him for reassurance, the way she did with Sonic normally—but now all she could notice was how this wasn't Sonic and how far he was from how she needed him to be…

She blacked out.

* * *

When Amy woke up this time, it was night. The moon shone through the open window. Sitting next to her was an old anthropomorphic chipmunk. She was knitting in the poor light, her well-practiced fingers making no mistakes.

More than anything, Amy was acutely aware that she was not at home.

She sighed in disappointment. So it was all real, after all…

The old lady noticed the sound. "Well, good evening, Miss Rose."

"Call me Amy," she said absently.

The old lady smiled. "That will clear up a little confusion, then. My name is Rosie. It's a pleasure to see you awake, Amy."

Amy sat up but felt down. "Where's Sonic?" she said.

"Sonic and Sally are out," said Rosie gently. "They didn't want to leave you alone, but they had to go, so they left me. Here, I made you some sandwiches."

Amy realized that she hadn't eaten since… well, it had been early afternoon back in Station Square, but she had no idea here. She didn't know how long it had taken to fall, she didn't know how long she'd been asleep—in fact, there was no way to know or guess how many hours were in a day here.

Either way, she was hungry.

She reached for the sandwiches. She was tentative at first—how could she even know what a sandwich was like here?—but she soon sped up as she gained confidence. Even if nothing else in this world was the same, a sandwich was still a sandwich!

Not that there weren't differences. The bread was coarse, whole-wheat, and there was something fake-tasting about the meat. But the vegetables were very fresh and ripe.

"This tomato is great," she said, trying to be polite. "It tastes like it was picked this morning."

"It was picked this morning," said Rosie, still smiling. "The bread was baked this afternoon, though we had the grain in storage for a while. We don't have the facilities to process the soy, though—normally we have to either steal it already patterned or trade for patterned soy with other villages."

"Patterned… soy?" said Amy. She left the sandwich hovering below her mouth, suddenly unsure.

Rosie chuckled. "You didn't think that was actual meat, did you? You really are from another world! Here, there aren't many creatures that aren't sentient. Eating meat would be cannibalism."

Amy paled. "I'm sorry," she blurted, quickly dropping the sandwich.

Rosie's expression didn't change. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, what you're eating is patterned soy. It's close enough to meat to keep everyone happy, but it isn't really meat at all."

Amy nibbled a little for show, but her appetite was gone. "Well, those were good," she said, sliding the tray away from her. "So where did… I mean… gosh, I don't even know where to start!" she said, becoming bashful. "I've never woken up in someone else's world before."

"Neither have I," said Rosie amiably. "It's a learning experience for both of us."

There was one thing Amy knew she could latch on to despite her doubt. "Tell me about Sonic," she said. "There's… a Sonic in my world, too. I thought, you know, if I understood Sonic…"

Rosie nodded. "Certainly, Amy. Sonic's 16 now, just like Sally and Rotor and Bunnie and Antoine. I brought them all here together eleven years ago. It was quite a lot for me to handle, believe you me! And they certainly didn't make it easy on me, especially after Sonic found Tails."

"Tails!" said Amy. "There's a Tails in my world, too!" It occurred to her, suddenly, that just because he was named the same thing… "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "The Tails I know is an orange fox with two tails. I don't suppose that's very common."

Rosie chuckled. "Incredible," she said. "That what my Tails is like, too."

Amy's face picked up. "Really? Can I see him?"

"I'm afraid it's past his bed time!" laughed Rosie. "Sally put him to bed before leaving tonight."

"Oh," said Amy. "But it's okay for me to see him tomorrow, right?"

"Absolutely," said Rosie. "Just remember, you may know a thing or two about him, but he's never seen you before."

"Right," she agreed. "Anyway… so you brought them here eleven years ago. But why? I mean, where were their parents?"

Rosie's humor vanished. She swallowed hard as shades of regret washed over her face. Amy felt guilty—she'd touched on something terrible. Rosie lost the ability to speak for several seconds, living in the backwash of pain.

"I'm not the one to answer those questions," Rosie managed, voice trembling. "I wouldn't even know how to begin. I'm sorry, Amy. I wish I could say more."

Amy nodded. "I understand… I guess," she said. "I'll ask someone else."

Rosie folded her hands together, trying to get back on track. "As I said, I brought them here eleven years ago. It was quite a challenge trying to keep them all together, trying to get them to behave—and especially to try and keep them from wandering off!

"Sonic was easily the worst about that. He could run unbelievably fast, but he had no patience, either. There wasn't much for him to do here, so he would always run off on his own. I'm afraid I couldn't do much for any of them. I spent a lot of my time trying to make sure we'd have enough food to last; many times the kids had to take care of themselves. But I am proud of a few things," she said, becoming mock-serious. "I did my best to encourage their schooling, and succeeded to a degree, and I always managed to get them in bed by a reasonable hour!"

"Wow," said Amy, "that is impressive."

Rosie smiled conspiratorially. "Now ask me if I was able to keep them in bed past a reasonable hour."

"Were you?"

"Not a chance!" she said with a laugh. "I would tuck them all in and make a few rounds of inspections, but if they were still awake past that they were free; I would be asleep moments after the last call. I know for a fact that they stayed up quite often," she said, looking into the vacant air, "because they'd always be so tired the next morning."

As Amy watched Rosie, she saw a mix of emotions wash over the elderly caretaker. There was the same regret from before, and also nostalgia and respect. Amy felt impoverished. She didn't have enough information to understand all that was going on in Rosie's heart. The only thing Amy knew for certain was this: more was at work here than a few missed bedtimes.

Rosie brought her attention back to herself and smoothed out her dress. "Well, as it is, we'll both be tired tomorrow morning if we don't get some rest now."

Amy yawned uncontrollably. "That's weird," she said. "I've been sleeping all this time, I thought I'd be wide awake now. Instead I can barely keep my eyes open."

"Well," said Rosie, smiling again, "you've been on quite a long trip. Go ahead, get some sleep."

Amy nodded. "I will. Thanks, Rosie." She pulled herself under the sheets. If one person had to raise six children and it wasn't any of their parents, Rosie sure seemed like a good choice…

She slept.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun woke Amy up the next morning. It played upon her face through the open window. She smiled, then rose to see what she could see.

Sitting in a chair close by was Sally, passed out. Amy wasn't quite sure how to handle it, so for the first few moments she tried to be quiet and let Sally sleep. If she remembered correctly, Sally had still been out and about when Amy had fallen asleep again.

Amy slid out of the bed and began to put on her shoes. Before she finished, Sally stirred. "Sorry," said Amy.

Sally shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she responded, clearing away the cobwebs. "I'm a light sleeper. Besides, I wanted it this way. You're new here, it's my job to make sure things work out for you." She stood and yawned broadly, then started some stretches. From the pops Amy kept hearing, it seemed that Sally had been very active last night, whatever she'd been doing.

"Why is it your job?" Amy asked.

"It just is," said Sally, not even looking Amy's way.

"If you say so," said Amy. She decided she'd wait until Sally was ready, but that was only a few seconds.

"Alright," said Sally, "let's get some breakfast. Follow me."

Amy emerged, for the first time, into Knothole Village proper.

It wasn't much, mostly huts for its residents. There was a main hall, which Sally seemed to be heading for, and there were many gardens. Amy noticed something else: the way that the entire village was built in and around trees.

"Hey," she said, "is that window the only place you can get direct sunlight in this village?"

Sally smiled. "I planned that myself. I thought it would be better for guests to be able to get a little sun, to help them get used to Knothole. Even then, it only get the sun for a few minutes each day, then it passes. These trees are evergreen, too, so it's like that all year."

Something about the situation bothered Amy, but she couldn't put a finger on it. She just kept following Sally towards the main hall.

They went directly into what might loosely be called the kitchen. Making breakfast seemed to be a free-for-all affair. This room, at least, had electricity; Sally gravitated towards a coffee maker, leaving Amy to jostle with two or three other animals for the rest of the kitchen's resources.

The other animals watched her a little, noticed her, but didn't say much beyond "excuse-me" and similar comments. After picking out some food, Amy worked her way back towards Sally. "Is it like this every morning?" she said.

Sally shrugged. "Unless someone decides to cook for everyone, sure. This is the only place where people can cook, so most typically come here in the morning. You're lucky, you woke up early. We'll be out of here before Sonic comes through."

Amy laughed, then stopped. "Was that a joke?"

Sally shrugged. "Only partly. How about you, are you ready?"

Amy checked her breakfast. "Do you have any milk?"

Silence.

"I said something wrong, didn't I?" Amy said, blushing immediately.

Sally shook her head. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you're a stranger here." She looked over Amy's shoulder. "She doesn't understand," she told the other villagers, "just leave her be." She took a hold of Amy and guided her out of the kitchens into the main part of the hall.

"I'm so sorry," said Amy, feeling terrible. "Is milk really important?"

Sally nodded. "Did you talk to Rosie any?"

"Yes," said Amy. "She told me that you don't eat meat because most creatures are… hey, does that mean…"

Sally nodded again. "Milk is a precious substance here," she said, "because almost no creatures produce much of it unless they've given birth recently. And even for those who make milk all the time, it's humiliating in the worst ways. So there's never much around. Most Mobians never get a taste of it after they're weaned. The only exception is the First Honor ceremony."

Amy thought about it. "Some kind of Mother's Day?"

"I suppose that's one way to put it," said Sally vaguely. "It's the one time of year milk is affordable."

"I'm really sorry," said Amy, staring into her food. "I don't mean to cause trouble."

"Stop that," said Sally. "You're being too hard on yourself. You just didn't know, that's all."

Amy turned her attention to her food. At least doing that, she reasoned, she wouldn't create problems for anyone.

From outside the main hall came the sounds of fast movement and air rushing to fill vacuum. Amy looked towards the door to see what was going on, but Sally didn't even glance up. She simply reached for the computer on her boot. "Nicole, time."

"Seven-twenty-nine-thirty-four, Sally."

"Half an hour before his shift was supposed to get off," she said, replacing Nicole but still not looking away from her food. "That slacker."

"Do you mean…" Amy began, but the question answered itself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, consider yourselves saved, for I have arrived!" announced Sonic as he burst through the doors, Tails on his heels.

"Sonic!" shouted Amy, her heart aflutter. She loved seeing him when he was like this!

Sonic was walking in the direction of the kitchen, which led him close by Sally and Amy. He was a little cautious, but he managed to say, "Hi, Amy. Hi, Sal."

"Sonic," said Sally, finally looking up at him, "is your watch broken?"

"Sal, if it was broken, how would I time myself? It's the only way to get better, y'know."

"I know," she said. "I also know that means ignorance is not a possibility. You must have decided to abandon your shift early."

"Chill," he said. "Tails came by and wanted to pick up breakfast with me. I was cool with that, and how am I supposed to say no?"

"You could have told him that guard duty is important," Sally offered.

"Tails is more important than guard duty," said Sonic firmly.

"Sonic, to you, everything is more important than guard duty."

Sonic took a step backwards and appeared contemplative. "You know what," he said after a second of delay, "I think you may have a point."

Sally sighed. "I usually do."

"Too bad! C'mon big guy!"

With that, Sonic and Tails dashed for the kitchen.

Amy was laughing. "Is he always like this?"

A hint of smile crept on to Sally's face. "Yes," she said, voice exasperated. "Always."

Amy's gaze lingered on the kitchen door. "I think I'm gonna have fun here in Knothole," she said. She turned back to Sally—but Sally was intently studying her food. "Did I say something wrong?" she said, worried.

"Probably not," said Sally.

Amy tried her best to shake off the sense of foreboding she was getting from Sally. "So," she said, "Sonic sure has a lot of energy, doesn't he? The two of you were up last night, according to Rosie, but he still comes in here just… well, like he always is! What were the two of you doing, anyway?"

Sally didn't look at Amy. "Important things," she said.

Now her mood was dead again! "Sally," she said, becoming serious, "what's going on? I mean, it's like there's some big depressing secret everyone has. You and Rosie both—there's some things you just won't talk about. Can't you tell me a little?"

"I will," said Sally, finishing and clearing her place. "But not now. For now, we need to get you settled in a little better." She led Amy out of the main hall. "That hut you used is the guest hut. It's yours indefinitely."

"Thanks," said Amy. "Hey, what's Sonic doing today?"

Sally smiled. "Well, as soon as he's done with breakfast, he'll be asleep. I know you couldn't tell, but he's tired. He always gets goofier when he hasn't had enough sleep. He'll be unconscious until the afternoon."

'Wow, that wasn't my impression,' Amy thought. "Well, what are you doing?"

"I have some planning to do," she answered vaguely. "But when Tails is done eating with Sonic, he'll be free. I think the two of you will get along nicely for now." Sally smiled to herself. "It'll be good for him to finally have someone about his age around."

Amy pouted. "Hey, I'm not that young!"

Sally did nothing but smile and walk off.

A chirp of laughter from the other direction drew Amy's attention. "Tails!" she said.

"I know how you feel," he sympathized. "They always treat me like a kid."

Amy looked Tails over. This Tails actually looked very much like her own, except… "You only look about ten," she said. "You are a kid."

"Not you too! Hey, you only look eight yourself."

"I'm older than that," Amy said indignantly. "I'm twelve, I don't care what Sonic says."

"Sonic treats me pretty good," Tails said.

"Sorry, I meant my Sonic," Amy laughed. "Boy, it's hard to keep things straight sometimes. Where is Sonic, anyway? Weren't the two of you just going in for breakfast?"

"Sonic does everything fast," said Tails. "He's already asleep."

"Huh," Amy said. "Without Sonic, what am I supposed to do with my time?"

"I could show you around," Tails offered.

"That'd be nice," said Amy.

The trees in this forest were enormous, even the ones in and around Knothole. Amy could only guess how old they were, and she marveled at how completely they shielded the village from the sun. That helped with the heat a lot.

Tails led her around the outskirts of Knothole. On one side was a cliff or a very steep hill, and one enormous old oak grew through both sides. Tails showed Amy that one of its roots had been hollowed out and turned into a slide—which, of course, obligated Amy to test it out to get a fuller understanding of it. She had to test it out five times before she was satisfied.

Most of the rest of the border was thicker forest; nearby were a group of wind-powered generators. ("They aren't very important," said Tails. "Only two places in the whole village use electricity, so it's no big deal.") By now the heat and the walking had Amy sweating, so Tails led her further around the border to a creek.

"Is it safe to drink from?" asked Amy.

"Sure," said Tails. "I mean, you didn't see a well anywhere, did you? Most of our water comes from here."

Amy was skeptical, but then again, the water looked so pure—way cleaner than any stream or fountain she'd seen back home. She shrugged and splashed some water on herself.

"Wow, that's cold!" she said. She could only drink a little of it, but that much seemed to be enough.

"So what's past this?" she asked, pointing out into the forest.

"More forest," Tails said casually. "I don't really know."

"You live here!" she said, confused. "You can't tell me you never leave the village."

"Course not," said Tails, a little indignant. "Sonic himself takes me out there sometimes. 'Training', he calls it. That's really fun. Hey, I know! I'll ask him to take you with us next time!"

"Thanks," Amy said uncertainly, "but… I mean, this isn't the only village, right? There are more out there?"

"Well, yeah, there are others, but they're really far away," said Tails. "I've never been to any of 'em. Sometimes we trade with them, but there's not a lot of contact."

Amy was tired of listening, she was tired of trying to figure out a new world, she was tired of being led around. More than anything else, she wanted to…

Splash!

…Have a little fun.

"Hey!" pouted Tails, wiping his face. When he looked at Amy, an accusing look on his face, she just smirked at him and splashed him again. "Stop that!"

"Make me," said Amy mischievously, shooting another bolt of water at him.

Much giggling ensued.

* * *

"I wish I was a better planner," Amy sighed. "My dress is soaking wet!"

Tails shrugged, unconcerned. "Take it off," he said nonchalantly as he removed his own shoes and gloves.

Amy blinked at him.

"Gosh," Tails said, "do you not have fur or something?"

"I have fur," she said defensively, "but it's thinner than… well, most people around here. And it's matted down right now." She sighed. "I live in a place where most people don't have fur."

"That's gross," said Tails, making a face.

Amy smiled. "Yeah, and some people get really obsessive about having too much hair."

Tails shook his head. "I've never even thought about it. That's kind of lame."

Amy shivered, cold suddenly. "Like I said, my dress is soaked," she said, getting back on track. "Does anyone else have clothes I could borrow?"

He thought about it. "Hm, I think Bunnie might have hand-me-downs. And if she has anything, she's gonna insist you take it. She's super nice. Come on, this way." He led her back into the village proper, to the door of another hut. He knocked politely. "Aunt Bunnie? You awake?"

Heavy footsteps came from inside, very heavy footsteps. But when Bunnie appeared, Amy couldn't see why. Bunnie revealed only her face and right arm—a bedraggled, weary face at that. "Good mornin', sugah," she said, the words squeezing out from between her Southern accent and a stifled yawn.

"Were you out with Sonic and Aunt Sally?" Tails asked. Bunnie nodded. "Well, Aunt Bunnie, meet Amy. She's new here."

Bunnie smiled groggily. "Nice to meet ya, honey. Didn't take ya long to get your feet wet, now did it? Y'all got somethin' to change into?"

"No," said Amy, "that's why Tails brought me here."

Bunnie was already appraising the girl. "Well hold on, Ah'm sure Ah've got somethin'." She disappeared behind her door.

"Tails," Amy said, "isn't y'all a contraction of "you all"?"

Tails grinned. "Yeah, but that's only kind of how it works. Bunnie straightened me out about it. Y'all is a singular form, all y'all is a plural form."

Amy took much comfort in the knowledge that here on Mobius, as on her own world, some things just didn't make any sense.

Bunnie's face reappeared. "Here you go," she chimed, extending a bright yellow sundress. Amy took it; Bunnie retreated back into her room.

"Sorry about that," said Tails. "She isn't a morning person even when she hasn't been up all night."

"This feels like it hasn't been worn in years," said Amy.

"It hasn't. But like I said, you won't find anyone nicer than Bunnie."

Amy nodded. "I believe you. I mean, she helped me out without even knowing me." She shivered. "And now I need to take advantage of it. Tails, find me somewhere I can change!"

* * *

"So why do you call Bunnie and Sally your aunts?" said Amy. The sundress fit very nicely, and the two were standing on a bridge over the creek's widest point. "I mean, I can't really see a resemblance."

Tails looked down. "Nah, we're not related. Not by blood, anyway."

Amy put a hand over Tails' shoulder. "I know what you mean. The Tails in my world is an orphan, too," she said sympathetically.

He perked up. "There's a Tails in your world?"

"Yep."

"Cool!" he said, laughing. "And all along I thought I was the only one like me!"

"And there's a Sonic in my world, too."

"Awesome!" said Tails. Then he crossed his arms. "Betcha my Sonic's cooler."

"No way!" said Amy, giggling. "That's not physically possible."

It was a stiff competition. Neither could get a real edge, wrapped up as they were in their own loves for the two versions of the hedgehog.

The conversations and wanderings of the children had taken them into the afternoon and, true to Sally's prediction, Sonic was now up and about. As Tails and Amy continued their argument, he ripped through the village, as ever in a hurry.

"Wow," said Amy, watching the dust settle, "he's even faster than my Sonic."

"Told ya mine was cooler," said Tails triumphantly.

"Faster doesn't mean cooler," Amy countered.

Sonic seemed to have some instinctive way to home in on anyone talking about him. He slid to a halt before his fans. "No need to argue 'bout it," he said, smiling broadly. "Let's face it, I'm way past cool in any and all worlds. Wherever I am I'm the coolest there is. So don't worry about it!" He bowed, then shot off again.

Amy shook her head, once more staring at his wake. "In a lot of ways, your Sonic is really like my Sonic."

"Sonic is the coolest."

"No contest."

* * *

The entire village was active, most doing some kind of daily chore. Some worked on hut repair and maintenance, others in the many gardens. Still others, most others, cleaned. It was a natural consequence of having a village in the middle of the forest—everything was dirty all the time.

The rest of the population vanished into the forest, often in pairs.

No matter the occupation, most of the inhabitants were cheery to Amy, which suited her just fine. She was just saying farewell to some gardeners when a terrific boom echoed through the village.

Tails laughed. "Only one thing makes that sound. C'mon, Amy, we need to fish out Rotor."

Rotor… Amy had heard that name dropped before. Right, he was one of the first Knothole citizens, the same age as Sonic and Sally and Bunnie. "What do you mean, 'fish him out'?" she asked.

"You'll see."

As they rounded a hut, a huge pile of mechanical parts came into view. They appeared to have spilled out of a small shed, except…

"How did all of that fit in the shed?" Amy asked. It didn't make any sense—the pile had a larger volume than the shed.

"Help me out here, Amy," said Tails. He moved towards the edge of a pile and grabbed at a mechanical arm protruding from inside. Wait—it wasn't mechanical after all. Amy swiftly moved to Tails' aid and they dragged a large person out of the mess.

The animal Tails identified as Rotor was round in stature and gray in color. Although the tips of his fingers were well developed, his legs were short and his feet were flat, as if he didn't really belong on land. He wore a bandolier and a backwards-turned baseball cap, which he had to fish out of the pile of parts. His tusks contributed to giving him a gloomy expression Amy suspected was permanent no matter what Rotor's actual mood.

"Rotor, you should know better by now!" said Tails, helping the walrus dust himself off.

"I know," said Rotor, abashed. "Gosh, I don't have a chance if even you're ragging on me."

"Sally's been telling you that you need another shed. She's been saying it since we all came here!"

Rotor's droopy face became even droopier. "If I do that, I'll just fill the second shed the same way. Then I'll never find anything!"

"Can you find anything as it is?" asked Amy, eying the heap skeptically.

"Sure, I already have what I was looking for," he said, extending his other arm. He did a double-take. "Sorry, who are you?"

"Amy," she said. "I'm new here."

"Hi, I'm Rotor," he said awkwardly. Pause. "I fix things."

"I'm sure you do," said Amy graciously.

Tails nodded. "And he's one of the few people who can teach Sonic anything," he said.

"Well, I don't really teach him," said Rotor, hesitancy gone. "I mean, sometimes when he's hanging around he'll just ask a random question—how does this work? His attention span is never good, so you have to go over it broadly, but he listens even when it doesn't look like it. Once you give him the basics, a lot of times he can use intuition for the rest, and that's what he's best at, anyway."

"So it's all in the method," Amy said, appreciating it.

Rotor nodded—though now he was becoming visibly nervous again.

"Do you teach other people, or just fix stuff?" she asked.

"Well…" he shrugged shyly, "No one ever asks." Another wrong-footed pause. "So, I… I got the part I needed, so I'll… see you later, I suppose," he said. He stumbled away from them, tripping over parts.

"Rotor, aren't you gonna clean this up?" Tails asked.

"Oh, right," he said, turning back.

"I'll help," Amy offered.

"You… will?" said Rotor.

Tails shook his head. "Nah, we were just leaving." He hustled Amy away.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "I wanted to help."

"He'd be too embarrassed," said Tails. "He hates getting too much attention, especially from new people. He got the full spotlight one time and just about died! If I offered to help him, it wouldn't have been a problem, 'cause he knows how to deal with me. But you, he doesn't know. And he hates it when he doesn't know stuff. The only people he really feels okay with are Sonic, Sally, Antoine, me, and Bunnie. I think he's still a little scared of Rosie."

"I don't think anyone could be scared of Rosie," Amy laughed. Mentally, she checked again—that same group of six names. Sonic, Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, Tails. They were a unit, different somehow from the rest of the village.

Interesting as that was, for now she didn't really know what questions to ask, so she changed the topic to another thing that had been bothering her. "It's strange," she said. "You've got those generators, and Sally has that awesome computer, and Rotor fixes mechanical stuff like I've never seen in my world. So you've got technology. Where's the rest of it?"

"Huh?" said Tails.

"I mean, in the rest of the village, I haven't seen anything more complicated than a hammer or a rake," she said. "If you've got technology that good, shouldn't it be in more places? It's strange. It doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, you're right," agreed Tails. "That's just how it is here. We've got some stuff, but we have to do most of it ourselves."

"But why?" Amy persisted. "You can't make a generator unless you've got parts, and I haven't seen anything in Knothole that makes me think you can make the parts here. Where did they come from?"

"They were here when we arrived," Tails said uncertainly. He started walking again, and Amy ended up following and talking to his back.

"But what about that computer Sally has?"

"We brought that with us," he said.

"And that huge pile of parts Rotor has? You sure didn't bring that with you."

Tails evaded the question. "Oh, hey Bunnie," he said with a wave.

"Hey, sugar-Tails," she called back. "C'mere, gimme a hug."

Tails ran into her embrace—and the sight of it froze Amy's insides.

Bunnie's face and right arm were the same as they'd been that morning—cleaner, perhaps, less sleepy, but essentially the same.

But Amy saw the rest of her now, and the knowledge shook her.

The other limbs were metal.

Robotic.

She didn't seem like a cyborg, because it looked so haphazard. It didn't look like the limbs were meant to be attached to that body. There were three dividing lines on her body. Flesh was on one side of each line, metal on the other, with no apparent interface or attempt at connection; it simply was. The metal limbs were huge compared to the slender right arm, especially watching them wrap about Tails, one above the other...

It was unnatural the way the limbs looked and moved, and especially their dead gray color when the rest of her was so vibrant and alive…

Bunnie looked past Tails to Amy. Her eyes were ungrudging, but defensive. She was used to this pain, and to this reaction from others. Amy wished desperately that she could make Bunnie stop looking that way, stop feeling like that.

Tails released the hug and stepped back. Amy composed herself and said, "Can I have a hug, too?"

Bunnie's eyes softened a touch. "Sure, Amy-girl." Amy gathered her wits and stepped into Bunnie's mismatched arms.

The touch of the metal limb was surprisingly light. Bunnie was clearly used to keeping her monstrous strength in check. But it was cold—its touch chilled her. Yet Bunnie's heart was warm. Bunnie's other arm and body were full of kindness and strength, as if to compensate for the chill radiating from her metal limbs.

The hug ended. "That wasn't so bad," Amy said so only Bunnie could hear. The older girl gave the slightest of smiles in response.

"Glad to see mah ol' sundress fits," she said, suddenly bright. "Ah remember wearin' it mahself, but Ah… it doesn't fit me anymore."

Amy didn't trust herself to respond.

"Now y'all scoot," Bunnie smiled. "Ah got started late and now Ah've got chores to do. I'm sure y'all can find things to do other than hang around this old girl."

"See you later, Bunnie!" said Tails.

As the distance between them grew, Amy gave an accusing look to Tails. "Tails?"

"What?"

"You told me that y'all was singular and all y'all was plural. But she used y'all for the two of us together."

"As it turns out," Tails grinned, "y'all is a remarkably flexible term."

Amy sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

For a village so full of contradictions, life in Knothole seemed surprisingly normal. Most of the people were working most of the time, either with chores or with small-scale craftwork or carpentry. People with leisure time found things to do, and some just talked and gossiped and flirted like people everywhere.

It was strange, though. Most of Knothole's thirty or so inhabitants were in their mid-teens to late twenties. Rosie was the only senior citizen and Tails the only child. It was as if an entire generation was gone and the next was barren.

Or, Amy thought to herself, the children are elsewhere. There were lots of possible explanations, but for most of them she either didn't have enough information or rejected them outright.

Of course, her thoughts continued, I'm never gonna come to a conclusion because I keep getting distracted!

Sally was everywhere. She seemed to have a paw in every activity that occurred in Knothole. Amy was watching her perform tests on the soil when she heard a new, distinctive voice.

"How eez it zat ze shifts of moi are checkered?"

The owner of the voice was an animal who seemed to be all forehead and nose. He wore an elaborate military jacket and boots in spite of the heat, but those weren't what held the eye. More prominent were the elongated, upturned snout and the high brow, emphasized by critically lowered eyelids.

"Checkered?" Sonic, identified immediately.

"Ze other on top of ze one."

"You mean stacked?"

"Of course. Zat is what I am saying, no?"

"And you're askin' me… for what reason, exactly?"

"Because it is ze name of yours that has take ze shift of mine and moved it," the first animal huffed, "so it is you zat has put me in zis predicated."

"Ant, Ant, Ant," said Sonic sadly, "I almost wish I understood your whining. Actually, I don't."

"What is so difficulty?"

"Ant, that little rearrangement sticks me with a double-shift, too. Why'd you assume I did it?"

"Because," the first animal said, eyes narrowing, "you have very little likeness of moi."

Sonic sighed. "Are you still goin' on about the uniform gag?"

Amy whispered to Tails, "Ant?"

"Antoine," said Tails, who seemed a little bored with the whole affair.

It clicked in Amy's mind. Antoine—the last of the six original villagers. Antoine makes a pun with ants, which meant that he was the person Sonic had pranked by putting ants in his uniform. That was the conversation she'd heard when she first woke up in Knothole.

Suddenly appreciating the scene before her, Amy appraised the two again. Antoine faced Sonic, trying to seem above Sonic but clearly furious, while Sonic was acting casually but obviously enjoyed tweaking Antoine.

By this point, Sally—and the rest of the village—had heard at least part of the exchange. Sally walked resolutely towards the two. "This is gonna be ugly," said Tails. "I'm outta here!"

Amy wanted to stay—maybe she could understand them better if she watched them in action. And if she understood the six, she'd finally start figuring out this strange, strange place called Knothole.

"Antoine, it was my doing," Sally began. "I'm the one who switched around the duty shifts. Sonic's been so bad about guard duty in the past, so I decided to go a little further. If he had two shifts in a row, for at least one of those shifts he'll have to be there the whole time. I'm sorry, Antoine, but the only way to make room was to move your shift around. It's too bad that it gave you a double, too, but I wanted to affect as few people as possible."

"I do not be blaming you, my preencess," Antoine said. "I am blaming zis fyu-el over on ze other paw."

Amy registered that Antoine called Sally princess, but she couldn't think about it much before everyone else was moving on. Sonic crossed his arms. "Hey, Ant, if Sal moved the shifts, why're you blaming me?"

"Because it was ze irresponsible of you zat made zis transfer necessitated," Antoine said.

Sally grimaced at Antoine's mangling of the language. Amy shook her head. Sally seemed to be siding, at least a little, with Antoine, but with debating partners like him…

"I've got an idea," said Sonic, all smiles. "I think my practical joke on you woulda been much funnier if I'd have used spiders instead of ants."

"Good call, Sonic," said Sally, rolling her eyes in a well-practiced gesture. "Remind us again of how immature you are. Great tactics. You're a real sophist."

Antoine looked confused. "What do ze cushioning have to do with zis?"

"Not sofa, sophist!"

It seemed useless to correct him. Antoine crossed his arms and said, with a medium degree of arrogance, "And since we are ze better sofas than you, Sonic, you must admit your doing-wrong!"

"Antoine…" Sally moaned. "I already told you, blame me if you have to blame someone."

"And he completely ignored you," said Sonic pointedly. "I'm fine with workin' a double-shift. It's Ant who's got his panties in a bunch."

Antoine became very indignant at this jibe.

"You're right about that," said Sally. "Antoine, you're overreacting. Even so, that doesn't let you off the hook, Sonic. You still tease Antoine ceaselessly and you still shirk your guard duty."

"But Sally," Sonic said, imitating a plaintive child, "he makes himself such a target, how can I pass him up?"

Amy joined in at last. "That's true," she said. "I've only been around him a few minutes, and I can give a few reasons Sonic would make fun of him."

All three of the older animals looked to Amy and stared.

Amy was intensely uncomfortable.

Then the three of them turned back to each other. The triangle began again, the bickering going back and forth without any decisive result, and they went right on ignoring Amy.

Amy put the pieces together. It was just like her habit of chasing after Sonic! It wasn't as if she expected that this time, as opposed to all previous attempts, he'd give in. What made her do it was that it was normal. That's how she and Sonic interacted; that was how they worked. What she was watching, as Sonic and Sally and Antoine made fun of each other and took potshots, was more a ritual of normalcy than anything else.

That was how she could be excluded so easily. Having her there wasn't normal, and that defeated the whole purpose.

The argument broke up shortly thereafter. Sonic departed first, catching the other two in his vacuum. Antoine went next, grumbling unintelligibly. Sally sighed, and muttered something about immaturity and foolishness.

"Sally!" Amy called. Now that the triangle was broken, maybe she could get a few answers.

Sally turned at the sound of her name. "Oh, hi, Amy. What is it?"

"Why did Antoine call you princess?" Amy asked.

Though she smiled at the question, her body stiffened noticeably. "No reason. It's just something he does," she said, a small quaver in her voice.

Amy smiled, remembering how Antoine had treated her so politely during the argument. "He must like you a lot," she said.

Now Sally rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't believe how annoying he is sometimes. I do my best to just grin and bear it—it IS kind of flattering—but he has a habit of choosing bad times."

Amy laughed. "Makes me think twice about how I treat the Sonic in my world. Speaking of which," she continued, "does anyone have any idea what that's all about? You know, what I'm doing here?"

Sally tapped her boot—no, the computer attached to her boot. "I have Nicole running analyses of all the available data," she said. "I scanned the hole pretty well after you fell through, but it closed shortly after. Hopefully, when Nicole is done, I'll be able to figure out why you came through and how to get you back."

"That's comforting," said Amy. "Oh, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"When and where are Sonic's two shifts?"

* * *

As it turned out, Sonic's shifts were the next day. Amy lay in the bed of her borrowed hut, trying to shut out the multitudinous sounds of the forest. Amy had to wonder why this village was so deep in the woods. Thus far, she hadn't seen any logical reason for it other than the presence of that ultra-pure stream.

There were so many puzzles here, she thought. Some things just didn't make sense as they stood. She was missing some huge piece of information. There was a white elephant sitting in the village that she was somehow failing to see.

And the citizens of the village, all so cheery and helpful, were useless when it came to giving her information. Rosie, Tails, and Sally had all either entirely dodged her harder questions or given partial answers. All the inhabitants of Knothole seemed happy enough, yet something existed that they just wouldn't discuss.

It was more than that. For all of their good attitudes and friendliness, there was a tension in the air. The villagers were ignoring her questions, but they were also working around this invisible mass in their own minds.

How to address this…

Amy didn't consider herself to be terribly smart, but if she could focus on something long enough she could usually figure it out. Once she got some more information, she could probably put together an understanding of this place.

She'd start with the six. Somehow, some way, those first six had made this village a place other animals would come to. It had begun with them, so they were the key to the village's secrets.

Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine, and Tails. No, scratch Tails, she thought. He was probably too young to know all of what was happening, and he was definitely too young to have made the village what it now was. The five, then. Rotor was useless to her; he would probably still be uncomfortable. Amy was herself uncomfortable talking to Bunnie, and she doubted it would be easy getting her to talk about matters. Antoine? Amy had seen enough to know better than ask him for anything.

That brought things down to Sonic and Sally.

A new set of noises outside of her hut drew her attention. She sat up in bed and looked through the flimsy shutters.

She couldn't see anything at all.

Stupid trees! She thought to herself. They blocked moonlight more effectively than they blocked sunlight. But she could still hear, and what she heard sounded like Sally's voice. A few seconds of this passed, and then she heard the unmistakable sounds of Sonic running off at high speed.

Those two were at it again, going… SOMEWHERE… late at night.

What were they doing? Amy somehow doubted they were getting away to have a make-out session. What was it, then?

She'd be able to corner Sonic tomorrow, when he was on guard duty. She'd ask him then.

Guard duty… just what were they guarding, anyway? From what? She smiled wryly. Hopefully, she'd remember to ask these things tomorrow!

* * *

Amy had passed by the path the first time. She'd had to ask a nearby villager exactly where it was, but when she saw it for herself she felt silly to have missed it. She pardoned herself after a closer inspection. It was artfully hidden, as were the other trails in the area. Yesterday, while being led around by Tails, she often hadn't realized a path existed until she was on it.

The paths were a reflection of Knothole and its people. Everything existed beneath a veil—a perilously thin veil, yet one everyone clung to and carefully maintained.

The guard post was small, tucked in the upper boughs of a staggeringly tall tree. A simple rope ladder dangled from high above. As Amy's eye got better at interpreting what she saw, she realized that there were two or three smaller "stations"; there wasn't a single rope ladder, but several, each attached to its own station.

Amy could guess the reason—it helped with the vertigo. It probably had also helped with the construction. Even so, Amy hadn't the foggiest notion how they'd built it all. With only the tools she'd seen in Knothole, it seemed impossible.

She shook her head, returning her focus. Sonic was up there, and she wanted to see him. She grasped the ladder and was impressed by its integrity. It held up just fine. She climbed to the first station without problems. During the second climb she began to worry; as she began the third climb she really, really hoped it was the last.

It was. As she pulled herself onto the platform, a gloved hand extended to help her. "Hey, Ames," Sonic said, brandishing his usual grin.

"Ames?" she asked, accepting his help.

He shrugged. "I can call you Amy if you want, but I like Ames better."

"Call me what you want," she said, laughing slightly. "'A Rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.'"

He blinked at her.

"It's from a play," she explained. "Where I live."

"Oh," said he. "Sounds kinda fishy, but I'll go with it. Ames it is."

"That's quite a climb," she said. "Do people get used to it?"

"Most do," said Sonic. "Not Ant. Sal usually gets him ground-level jobs 'cause he gets so sick. I make fun of Ant a lot, and most of the time he deserves it, but he actually hurled a few times, so she goes out of her way to keep his boots on the ground."

They were running words, Amy decided. Different, for whatever reason, from the way he had spoken before. The pace was high enough, and they came at such a regular pace, that it was as if he spoke in rhythm with someone out on a run.

"Do you get bored up here?"

"Nah. Okay, that's a lie. I do. It's funny, Sally's always ribbin' me for acting without thinking, and she's right a lot. Just the same, I never actually stop thinking. It's more like I think about stuff other than what I'm doing, or think one thing while my body decides to do something else. Yeah, lots of times it's the body that knows what to do. When you're at supersonic speeds, you learn that your brain is just too slow. That's not quite the same with me, though. After all these years of running so fast, I've been training my brain to keep working at least at subsonic speeds, so I can use it if I need to. And it works like that even when I'm not moving at all!"

The last sentence wasn't quite true. He wasn't pacing, because he kept his front to Amy the whole time, but he was nonetheless in constant motion. He gesticulated to help make his points, while his legs carried him around the small outpost at random.

"The design doesn't seem useful," said Amy, struggling to get back on track. "I mean, who other than you could get down in time to warn anyone of anything?"

The torrent began again. "Like I said, most people get used to it. You'd be surprised how fast we can move vertically—it's the Great Forest, after all, not the Great Prairie! Gotta learn how to think and move in three dimensions. So most people can get up and down in a hurry. Plus there's this," he said. He showed her a vaguely gun-shaped object that had, until then, been lying in a corner, unnoticed. "Flare gun, in case there's no time. Big giveaway, but we never plan to use it, and if anyone has to use it it's too late anyway."

If Amy had a chance, at any time in the conversation, to bring up the topic of why guards were necessary, that was the chance. But Sonic gave her no opening; the flood of words continued unabated. And Amy found herself engrossed in listening to him.

It was the same, she reflected afterwards, as how she sometimes ended up acting around her Sonic. He'd just be so impressive or cool or heroic that she'd forget herself, caught up in his glory like a satellite in orbit. But her Sonic never got her like that by talking. In fact, her Sonic didn't talk a whole lot. He was usually either adventuring or lazing around, and either way he didn't have a heck of a lot to say. He wasn't shy by any means, and he had no self-control when he thought something needed saying, but he wasn't compelled to speak.

This Sonic was—it was the only explanation. At first Amy thought that "gregarious" was a good word to describe it; by the later portion of the conversation she decided it was too mild a term. Even "conversation" was imprecise. While not exactly a lecture, it was decidedly one-sided.

On and on and on he went, never evening out or letting up. If he once repeated himself, neither he nor Amy noticed. He switched topics often enough to keep things interesting and his voice was always full of energy. It all sounded fresh to Amy; whether he'd spoken these words to others or not she couldn't tell.

Every topic he could think of, it seemed, was on his mind all the time. He explained, discussed, or wondered out loud on a whole variety to subjects. Mostly, he told her. He told her how some of the watch stations had been built, the long hours it had required from those with motivation but no equipment. He told her how everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Rotor finally agreed to settle for a dirt floor instead of repairing the old wood one again. He told her how Bunnie, "before she had arms and legs", made a fuss over working in the gardens because it made her so dirty; and "after her limbs were metal" she actually hit the gardens with a passion, as if making up for lost time. ("Can't get dirtier than this", he quoted with a poor accent but rich affection.)

He told her, at length, about paths (that was one of the few contributions she made to the discussion). How he, and he alone, could travel fast enough to learn the best ways to get through the forest, to learn secrets and details even the best maps didn't quite catch. He told her how, once he found these routes, he would run them up and down and up and down to beat the flora into submission. Making a path, it turned out, normally requires dozens of people making dozens of trips; it can also be done with hundreds of people doing a few trips; but it can also be done with one person making thousands of trips—or a smaller number at much higher speed.

He told her how, after the path was made, it had to be unmade—disguised, cunningly. How nowadays he usually traveled at less than full speed to avoid having to replace everything all the time. How the entrances usually required more than a trained eye, but an actual guide. And he told her a few they'd abandoned using, sowing trees and shrubs into the packed-down earth. Every day the seeds failed to sprout they harbored fears that the path would remain, but every plant that grew to obscure the path was something that eased their hearts.

(This was one topic, Amy thought, that her Sonic and this Sonic differed on quite widely. The Sonic of this world was very careful about covering his tracks; her Sonic neither wanted nor needed to do the same.)

And so it went, for how long Amy couldn't tell. All she knew for certain was that Rotor finally ended it by poking his head into the station, taking one nervous look at Amy, and two surprised ones at Sonic.

"What?" said Sonic, indignant.

"It's just…" Rotor smiled. "I didn't think you had enough willpower to do it."

Sonic smacked himself. "Not you, too!"

"And to think I came early," said Rotor, grin broadening. "If I knew you were so happy to be out here, I'd have taken my time."

"I'm leavin', hear me?"

"Hey Sonic, I've got duty two days from now, but I really want to run some experiments during that time. Can you cover me?"

"I am SO gone!" With those words, he actually was.

Amy laughed at his wake, then turned to Rotor. "Rotor, I'm sorry that you climbed all the way up here but…" she scrunched her head down, embarrassed. "Can you show me the path?"


	4. Chapter 4

When Amy got back to the village, a group of animals was congregating around Sally. "I was just thinking," Amy heard the older girl say, "that it's getting awfully close to harvest time. Pretty soon we're all going to get a lot busier. So we ought to use the last of our free time to celebrate it!"

Amy was surprised. She found Tails, who was clapping along with the other animals, and whispered, "As far as I can tell, Sally doesn't have any free time!"

"She really doesn't," Tails replied, "because she spends what would be free time organizing others."

That was the truth, Amy found, as she watched Sally work. Sally spoke without a commanding tone, and without any kind of direction or authority in her voice—yet people did what she asked them to do. Sally still looked quite uncomfortable when Antoine called her princess (that earned him a spot in the kitchens), but Amy began to wonder if there wasn't something to that, after all.

Sally had sent a number of animals off, mostly to deal with the food or external preparations, before turning to the large remainder. "Now, for the rest of you, we'll be decorating," she said. She smiled sadly. "Now, I wish I could tell you more than that, but I don't really know what would look good!"

There was a lot of laughter.

"Well, Ah can make garlands outta flowers," said Bunnie.

"I can do that too!" said Amy excitedly.

"Good, you two do that," Sally affirmed. "But we'll need to gather bunches first. What's in bloom this time of year?" She made an instinctive move to reach for her computer, Nicole, but Sonic waved her off.

"No prob, Sal, the hedgehog has it covered. I know tons of places."

Sally's eyes widened in appreciation—and doubt.

"I'll go with him," Tails said eagerly. "We'll be able to carry a lot more that way, and it'll be even more fun!"

Amy could see Sally resist the smile heroically, but she gave in. "That'll be good," she said, the smile bursting across her face. "That way, at least one of you has a fashion sense."

Sonic crossed his arms in ironic anger. "I take serious offense to that, Sally Acorn."

"Yeah, yer a real one to talk, Sally-girl," chimed in Bunnie.

"Hey, I don't admit to knowing much," said Sally, raising her arms in surrender. "All I know for sure is that I know more than this tasteless low-brow."

"She meant me, right?" said Sonic.

Bunnie stepped right in front of Sally. "Sally-girl, let's do some quick word association, 'kay? As a test."

"Sure."

"She meant me, right?"

"Dress."

"Special purposes only."

"High-heels."

"Gimp."

"Sewing."

"Seeds."

"Jewelry."

"Luxury."

"Hairdos."

"Wasted time."

"Earrings."

"Ow!"

"She meant me, right?"

"YES, she meant you!"

Bunnie smiled triumphantly. "Sally-girl, you just failed your fashion test."

"See?" said Sonic, joining the act. "So don't go bashin' me."

Bunnie rounded on Sonic just as quickly. "Sugar-hog, you scored a negative on your fashion test."

Sonic clutched his heart and staggered backwards ostentatiously. "I am wounded. C'mon, Tails, we'd better blow this place 'fore they eat us. Gotta be careful 'round girls, Tails, never forget it…"

"The rest of you," Sally shouted, trying to get over the laughter and good humor, "find something to do that's festive!"

Amy did her best to make herself useful, but it was hard. It seemed everyone had some ideas on what to do, and—since she was the smallest and least experienced—it was easy to shunt her aside. She took it stoically and used the time to watch how the villagers interacted.

They worked well together, almost wordlessly. She suspected it had to do with being together so much for so long. With nowhere to go but this village and no one to work with but each other, it was little wonder they'd get good at it.

When Sonic and Tails returned at last, each carrying a small basket of flowers, Amy and Bunnie quickly went towards them and began to work. "Ah always liked to do this," Bunnie said. "Ah used to 'magine Ah was the garden, an' all the flowers were growin' outta me!"

Amy smiled. "I never thought about that. I just knew it looked pretty."

"Are there many flowers where you live, Amy-girl?"

She shrugged. "That depends. Most of the time I live in a city, so the parks there are the only places for flowers. I don't buy flowers that often, I'm not at home often enough. The way my life works, I'll be home for days or weeks at a time, and then out of nowhere—bang! Time to hit the road."

"Wow," said Bunnie. "Sounds like your life's full of excitement."

"I guess you could say that," said Amy. "It's one of those things where I'm either adventuring or killing time until the next adventure. I do my best during the downtime. I spend a lot of it chasing after Sonic."

"You got a thing for sugar-hog?" said Bunnie, ears perking up.

"Not your Sonic, my Sonic," said Amy, on the defensive suddenly.

Bunnie's smile grew. "Oh, 'your' Sonic? Is that a fact?"

"No, it's not a fact," Amy sighed. "Most of the time, he just runs away from me. There are times when he has to save me, which is really embarrassing—but it's at those times that I feel he actually cares about me. I suppose that's why I chase Sonic, even when I know he's going into danger. I know that, even if things get really bad, he'll save me."

When Amy looked back up at Bunnie, the older girl was lost in thought. Her flesh arm was resting on her metal shoulder, moving slowly up and down her arm. She shook her head. "Aw, forget it. C'mon, Amy-girl, you're fallin' behind. Look!"

Much to Amy's surprise, Bunnie had indeed finished more garlands. Amy was astonished—despite the fact that her robotic fingers were far oversized for this sort of thing, Bunnie's manual dexterity was high enough to make up for it completely.

"It's on now," said Amy, grinning like a tiger.

"Bunnie?"

It was Sally's voice. Bunnie mouthed, 'Later,' to Amy, then called back, "Yes, Sally-girl?"

"Did they get you enough flowers?"

A quick glance answered the question—the two garland-makers were barely started and running out. "Not even close."

"Alright, I'll send them back out." A few moments later Sally sat down next to Bunnie. "Can you show me how to make these?"

"Sure, Sally-girl," said Bunnie helpfully.

"You wanna make these, too?" asked Amy.

"Not really," said Sally. "There are too many other things going on. But… I've never done it before, and that… bothers me. I want to be able to do it."

"No problem, Sally-girl. Here's how ya do it…"

It took a while for Sally to get the hang of it—she clearly wasn't used to working with flowers. "It shouldn't be a problem with my fingers," she said, frustrated. "I mean, they're agile enough to rearrange wires, make or break computers… am I just doing it wrong?"

"You're taking this way too seriously," said Amy.

"I suppose," said Sally. "I do have that problem."

Amy did a double-take. "Sally… that's great!"

Sally looked down at her work. "Really?" she said, doubtful.

"She's right, Sally-girl," Bunnie agreed.

"You learned that really quickly," said an impressed Amy.

"I suppose I did," she said, still dubious despite the evidence in her hand. "Thanks for everything, you two. Keep up the good work."

"Will do, Sally-girl," said Bunnie.

Amy waited until Sally was out of earshot. "What was all that about?"

Bunnie didn't even look up. "It's just how she deals with stress. Sally-girl's insecure," she said. "She's always feelin' like she's one card short of a deck—nice, but useless. It's kinda strange, I suppose. She's gotta be the smartest one in the whole village—other 'n Rotor, maybe, but he's smart in a different way. Yeah, Sally-girl's the smartest one. But she never feels like it's enough."

"And it bothers her that much," Amy said, reaching the conclusion. "So much she's got to be able to do anything, just in case."

"Somethin' like that," Bunnie said. "Y'know who's the weirdest one here? Weirdest person in the whole village?"

"Sally?" Amy guessed. She didn't know, but Sally was the topic of discussion.

"Wrong continent," Bunnie laughed. "Nah, Sally-girl's the most normal. Ah mean, she's unusual—lotsa gifts, and she deals with stuff in different ways—but all her ways make sense. The weirdest one's gotta be sugar-hog. He just does the strangest things sometimes! Ah mean, it's not like he's complicated; you can figure out what he's gonna do pretty easily. But you can figure that out only 'cause you're used to him. Ah do declare, he comes up with the strangest stuff sometimes…"

"Oh, Bunnie…" Amy said.

"What?"

"You're falling behind. Look!"

Bunnie glanced down, then looked up and grinned like a tiger. "Aw, it's on!"

* * *

The party kicked off a few hours before sunset and was a huge success. Someone had dredged up some musical instruments, and the impromptu band put forth a great effort. They weren't terribly good and they weren't terribly loud—they seemed deliberately staying below a certain volume—but they were terribly enthusiastic.

The food reminded Amy of her first impressions: plain, but high-quality. Everything tasted fresh, and though there was a limit to the processed foods available (Amy got several strange looks and many confused ones when asking for mayonnaise) the simple pleasures seemed to win out. The large supply of salted nuts, Amy noticed, was exceedingly popular.

"This is good," Amy said, trying to compliment Antoine.

"I did not make zat," he responded, nose high.

"Well, can you tell whoever made it that they did a good job?"

"Pear-haps, if I should be seeing them," Antoine said vaguely.

"What did you make?" Amy pressed.

Antoine sighed, most forlornly. "I have of recentment been wanting to make escargot… but alas, I no have ze ingredients."

Amy frowned. "Escargot isn't that complicated, is it? I mean, it's just snails, right?"

"Just snails? Madame, escargot eez more zan zat! It must be prepar-ed most full of care, and I am never having enough butter."

"But that's so obvious," said Amy. "Even I know that milk products are scarce here. Why don't you just use margarine?"

Antoine's eyes popped in fury. "Margarine? MARGARINE!"

Amy shrank to half her height. "What?" she squeaked.

Before Antoine could speak again, a garland only sort-of landed on his head. It got caught on his snout and an ear.

"Darn it. You win, Tails, I couldn't ring him after all."

Antoine rounded on Sonic, forgetting Amy completely. "You fyu-el! What doing are you!"

"Oops, he saw me, gotta juice!"

"Get back 'ere!"

Of course Antoine was never going to catch Sonic, but Amy's only emotions were relief. She spotted Sally shaking her head helplessly. "Remind me to thank Sonic," she said to Sally. "He saved me from a scary fate."

"Oh, he saved you, did he?" said Sally dubiously. "Just wait. He created a lot of problems, too—especially for me, since I'm the only one they'll both listen to."

Amy stepped forward and reached up to put a hand on Sally's shoulder. "Come on, lighten up! Are we having a party or not?"

"I suppose we are," said Sally.

"And are you enjoying it or not?"

"I don't suppose I am," Sally sighed.

"Well, that's just not right," said Amy, grinning. "Come on, I know what to do."

It required a little work to make, and they caught some strange looks while getting it ready, but when they were done Amy had a fully-functional limbo set made of garden tools. "This is a popular game in my world," she said, announcing to the crowd as well. Even the band was leaning in to listen. "This is how it works. While the band plays music, everyone tries to go underneath the crossbar without knocking it off. But, you can only go underneath leaning backwards! You can't lean forwards." She demonstrated a few times. "If you hit the crossbar or fall over, you're out! Everyone can play, but every time we go around, we lower the crossbar. Last person in the game wins! Ready?" She gestured to the band, which went into a wild jam that almost sounded good.

The game took a while at first, since everyone in the village except the band and Rosie went through. (Rosie took one look at the crossbar and said, "I haven't been able to stand that straight for years!") But a few quickly distinguished themselves. Rotor only lasted a few rounds before leaving the line by himself. ("Scared I was gonna choke myself on the bar.") Antoine looked like he was doing well, then inexplicably panicked and ran off in disgrace. Tails stayed in for a long time, until people realized he was using both his tails as extra supports, which Amy had to call illegal. ("This game was designed by people without tails, wasn't it, Amy? Yep, that explains why it's no fun.")

The game was on the line as Amy lowered the bar one more time. Only Sonic, Sally, and Bunnie were still in the game. (Amy had lost one round earlier, her smaller size trumped by Sally's astonishing flexibility.) Everyone was cheering for the three survivors now.

Bunnie went first. Now that Amy could look more closely, she could see the rabbit's secret. The weight of her metal legs was a huge help, but only so long as she kept them straight. Up until now, she'd managed to get through entirely on the balance provided by the metal limbs—but now, at last, she had to bend her knees to get under, and she lost her leverage. She collapsed. "Well, ain't that the darndest thing," she muttered, punching the earth with her right (flesh) arm. "Your turn, sugar-hog, though Ah don't have the foggiest idea how any of y'all made it this far."

Sonic approached, but before he began his round, rotated, waving down the crowd. "Hush," he said. "The master only works in silence." Several snickers, prominent in Sally's case. "You too, Sal. Alright, here we go." He walked forward towards the bar. His knees jutted forwards mightily, trying vainly to counter his weight as he leaned back. His spine curved in the opposite direction it usually did. His quills almost scraped the ground. Despite the concentration, he never lost his smile—not even when he bumped the bar with his face, lost his balance, and fell on his rear.

"Nice job, master!" Sally's catcall was amongst the loudest and first.

Sonic, still smiling, made an after-you gesture to Sally. Unlike Sonic, Sally's expression changed to one of serious concentration. She didn't require everyone to quiet down, she simply tuned them out before beginning her attempt. She bent backwards like Sonic and Bunnie had before her, millimeters deciding whether she'd make it or not.

Amy was amazed. She remembered her first impression, that Sally's head seemed about a size too large. That seemed more obvious than ever as she watched Sally try to compensate for her thinness. There was no way anyone could tell if Sally was down enough to get by, but by now her hips were passing under the bar…

Abruptly, Sally walked backwards and stood. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I wasn't going to make it," she said. "I give up."

The crowd expressed its outrage, and Amy went right along with it.

Sonic stepped forward. "Come on, Sal. You started this game, you gotta finish it!"

"What's the point? I know I can't make it. I'm satisfied with that, because I know exactly how low I can go. Here, I'll measure it now."

"That's not the point," said Sonic. "You remember how you're always tellin' me about the spirit of rules? You're breakin' one right now. You gotta go until you flunk out."

Sally crossed her arms, trying to hold off a smile. "You just want to see me get humiliated, don't you?"

"Of course I do, and so does everyone else!" he shouted, his smile proud and loud. "I played along, I did it."

"In that case, I think this is yet more proof that I have better judgment than you," Sally rebutted.

"Or it could mean you're a wuss," Sonic shot back.

Sonic had crossed some kind of line. Sally's mouth dropped open, then she clenched it, squeezing the smile clean off of her face. (Bunnie politely swept it up and saved it for later.) She squared her shoulders and marched right past Sonic, tossing her head with an empress' disdain. She stared down the limbo bars, and then her body began to bend.

An involuntary hush settled over the crowd, sucked in by the intensity on Sally's face. All were struck dumb by the almost painful extensions Sally forced upon herself. Then she began to move, dropping even lower as she approached the bar. Before there had been a lot of ambiguity over whether Sally was low enough or not, but now she was clearly lower. If she could keep that low while moving—now that was the real trick!

One step, then another. More and more of her passed beneath the bar. Centimeter by centimeter cleared. Now it was up to her neck. Trouble! She actually raised herself a bit. The crowd gasped, certain that she'd goofed. The head, always the head—if anything was to stop Sally, this was it. She shot one defiant glare at Sonic, then closed her eyes, rocked her neck back, pulled with her legs—

And cleanly evaded the bar as she rose.

The crowd went wild.

She popped to a standing position, hands on her hips, victory on her face, glory in her soul. "How was _that_, Sonic Hedgehog?" she said, smug as a bug.

Sonic looked almost indifferent. "Eh, I can top that."

"Oh really?" said Sally, skepticism dripping from her voice. "You already botched it once, and you weren't even close."

"I guarantee I won't this time. Just wait a sec." He jogged over to a spot a good ten meters away from the crossbar. "Check this action out!" He zoomed to a high speed sprint, headed straight for the limbo rig.

At the last moment, he leaned back, stopped his legs, and dropped to his knees.

Sonic slid beneath the bar on his shins, coming to a stop a few meters on the other side. His arms were spread wide. "C'mon, show me the love," he said.

Sally could only shake her head as the crowd erupted in laughter. "So much for the spirit of the rules," she said, unable to suppress her smile.

"Hey, look who cares all of a sudden," Sonic said even as he dusted himself off.

She looked up, as if appealing to a higher power. "Why do I even bother?"

"Because you love me," he replied. "Don't feel bad about it. Everyone does."

"Sonic, that was terrible," she told him.

He shrugged. "I was due for a let-down anyway. Hey, can we have some music?"

The band started up again, playing something that you could almost tell what it was supposed to sound like. Amy was swept up in the sound and color and loved every moment.

* * *

It wasn't until long afterwards that Amy realized how clever Sally was.

The party had made everybody forget about their worries. Sally's plan had succeeded admirably. All day, Amy hadn't gotten a single answer to any of her difficult questions.

In fact, the day had introduced a new one: Was Sonic Sonic?

During the limbo game, she'd felt something very peculiar: she'd seen the differences between "her" Sonic and "this" Sonic erode. Sure, they were still different physically, but other parts of them were very similar. Specifically, all the parts she loved about "her" Sonic—the arrogance, the confidence, the showmanship, the ability to steal any scene he was in, the ability to manage any crowd and bring a smile to everyone's face. All of it was so familiar, and it had the same effect on her as it always did. And this one appreciated her! He didn't run from her constantly, anyway.

Sure, there were other differences. "Her" Sonic would never have talked the way "this" Sonic had when it was just the two of them in that guard post, for example. Some of the differences were better, some worse. But when it came right down to it, Sonic seemed like Sonic. Maybe he'd been right when he'd told them he was the coolest in any universe.

She rubbed her eyes carefully. "Am I falling for this Sonic Hedgehog, too?" she wondered out loud. "Or am I falling again?"

Very creepy, in some ways. Exciting in others.

All things considered, she was very much looking forward to the next day. Sally should be done with her analysis by then. Amy would get her answers tomorrow, or she might just lose her charm.


	5. Chapter 5

Amy Rose was distracted again—but it was a most pleasant distraction.

Tails had caught up with her at breakfast and asked her to go on one of Sonic's "training" exercises with him. She had gladly accepted. The alleged purpose of the training mission was to learn how to track in the woods. What that meant was they played cross-country hide-and-go-seek.

Amy's state of confusion regarding Sonic grew steadily worse. Sonic probably didn't even realize it was happening, but Amy was becoming steadily more enamored of the hedgehog. It had been so much easier when she'd just arrived. There, the jarring physical differences between the Sonics made it easier to tell herself, "Whoa, this is different. This is strange." Now she'd gotten used to it.

It wasn't a transferal of feeling from one Sonic to the other; it was that they were similar enough for her to love both of them.

It felt very awkward; she had no idea how to handle it.

Tails won the hide-and-seek easily.

"Well, at least you're better competition than Antoine," Tails said by way of encouragement.

"Don't ask," Sonic pre-empted. Amy didn't.

They returned to the village. "That was great, Sonic," she said.

"You think so?"

"Absolutely! I can see why Tails always wants to go on training missions with you."

"Tell ya what," Sonic said amiably. "If you're still here next time, I'll take you with us then, too."

"Cool! When's that?" said Tails.

"Um… about a year."

"Sonic!"

"Hey, I've been busy lately. No, I'm kidding, I love spending time with you guys."

"Really?" said Amy, heart speeding up.

"Would I lie about somethin' like that? No way."

"You are definitely the coolest!" she said.

"Nah."

"Really, you are!"

"Okay, okay, if you insist, I'll say it. I'm the coolest."

Amy couldn't stop smiling. Her cheeks began to hurt. She ignored them.

"I've got to agree with Amy," said Tails. "You are the coolest."

"Wow, you and a girl are getting along so well," said Sonic as he stepped away from the two. "I think you two look great together."

"No way! Blech!" said Tails.

"My heart belongs to someone else, anyway," Amy said haughtily.

Two sets of eyes focused on Amy.

"The Sonic in my world, you freaks!" she giggled.

Laughter. Lots of laughter. Some of it falser than others.

Amy just wasn't sure anymore. Things were turning upside down.

"But you are very lovable," she went on.

Sonic shrugged. "That's true. Won't deny it."

"Amy!"

It was Sally's voice. Amy followed it to find the older girl standing a fair distance off. "Catch ya later," she said to Sonic and Tails. Then she jogged over to Sally, humming to herself. "What is it?"

Sally suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Amy, I've… well, I've been watching how you deal with Sonic. Now, I know, at your age, that it's easy to get carried away with things…"

"Right," Amy said. She was getting a definite feel from Sally—did Sally see the love Amy had for Sonic?

"And Sonic, well, his ego feeds things like this. He encourages this kind of worship, and I think it must be even stronger coming from a girl… I have a hard enough time trying to deal with Tails and Sonic."

"Okay," Amy said vaguely. So Sally knew. But her voice remained stilted, as if she had a very hard time convincing herself to say these things.

She apparently rethought something, for the next words were easy. "Sonic's ego is big, we know that. It has to be to do some of the things he does. If his ego were too small he wouldn't be able to convince himself to defy death, to run and act like he does. That would be a big problem, I don't want to hurt that. But we can get the opposite problem too. If his ego is too big, he starts taking unnecessary risks. He gets really gung-ho, and it's… It's a full-time job for me deflating his ego. If you act like this… Listen, what I'm really trying to say is, can you compliment Sonic less? It's just too dangerous."

Amy shook her head, not quite sure she'd understood. "Compliment him less?"

Sally nodded. "That's right."

The pieces fit. "You're jealous," she said, a note of surprise in her voice.

She'd expected some sort of denial or qualification. That was how normal people reacted to such a blunt accusation. But Sally, as Bunnie had told her, wasn't normal. Sally gave a sad smile. "Yes, I'm jealous. You can be honest with him."

Now Amy was just confused. "Why is it so dangerous to compliment Sonic? Why can't you be honest with him?"

Amy could see Sally make the decision. She stood straighter and gained some determination. "I think it's time I explain things to you. Come on, this way."

They stopped by Sally's hut first. "We're going to be walking for a few hours now, and I don't want you to be too uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about it, I can hold my own," Amy said.

"Just the same…" Sally retrieved a small backpack and two canteens. "Alright, follow me." Sally led her out of the village and onto a path.

The long minutes were held in silence. Amy was bursting with questions that seemed on the cusp of being answered, but Sally had stopped talking to lead this walk and wasn't resuming.

Amy noticed that none of the walks she'd been on so far had been in this direction. She hoped that this wasn't a bad sign.

"Tell me a few things about your Sonic," Sally said, out of the blue.

"Well… in some ways he's like this Sonic," she said. "Confident, fast, popular, easy-going, brave… I've seen him do some amazing things."

"Is there any kind of fighting that he does?" Sally continued, cutting Amy off.

"Well, yes," Amy said, shifting topics. "There's a madman on my planet. We call him Dr. Eggman."

"Doesn't sound that threatening." Dead-voiced Sally. She wasn't impressed.

"Yeah, it's a silly name," said Amy. "He's the kind of person who's smart and stupid at the same time. He's smart enough to build entire robot armies, but he's dumb enough to leave them vulnerable to Sonic. He's smart enough to put himself in position to conquer the world, but dumb enough to blow it every time. Sonic stops him whenever he tries anything. Sometimes I even help."

"Really?" said Sally. Amy couldn't tell if she approved or disapproved.

"Yeah," said Amy, starting to lose confidence. "I mean, sure, it's scary, but I've learned how to destroy a lot of Eggman's robots. They really aren't put together very well. And Sonic! He can just blow through them, most of them aren't even a challenge. So a lot of the time Sonic just lays around. We live pretty lazy lives unless Eggman starts up something. Then we're super-busy, but the rest of the time we're pretty easy."

Sally didn't respond verbally. Amy, troubled now, raced around to Sally's front to see the older girl swallowing the last of her sorrow. "Sounds fun," she said, voice even.

"Yeah," said Amy dully. "It is."

"Well, don't stop there," said Sally. "Keep going. I want to hear about a few of these adventures of yours."

"That, I can do," Amy said.

After a few hours of walking, broken up by breaks, Amy was well out of stories. She'd started repeating herself.

"Well, I've done my share," she said, frustrated now. "You said you'd give me some answers. I'm still waiting. You said you were going to explain you and Sonic."

Sally took a swig of water. After swallowing, she faced Amy firmly. "To understand Sonic and me, our relationship, you have to understand our world. Our stories are the same as our world's. Sonic and I, our lives our tied to the life of our world. If you'll give me another fifteen minutes of walking, I'll answer any question you ask."

"Okay," said Amy, picking up on Sally's serious tone.

Amy hadn't really noticed before, because she'd been too engrossed telling stories, but this part of the forest looked… sick. Things weren't the right colors, and there was far less noise. Something was very different from the forest around Knothole. Plus, there was…

"That smell!" said Amy, pinching her nose. "What is it?"

"Smog," Sally answered. "From the city."

"The city?" said Amy, surprised. "But Tails said there were other villages, just no one goes to them."

"Tails was right."

"This doesn't make sense!" said Amy. "I mean, it's in easy running distance for Sonic. How can no one go there?"

"Sonic goes to the city," Sally said patiently. "So do I. And Rotor, Antoine, and Bunnie."

The five again, Amy noted. "Then what do you mean? I just don't understand," she said.

"I'll show you." Sally held aside some bushes, revealing a space. "At the end of this there's another bush. Push it aside and you'll get the idea."

Amy followed Sally's strange instructions. The pungent smells grew thicker and more numerous as she crept through the tunnel in the bushes. Something was irritating her eyes now. She stumbled into the last hedge, bumbled through it—and then, revealed to her eyes, was…

"The city," she gasped. Except that it wasn't a city.

It was a monster.

The entire area of the city was cloaked in haze and smoke. The all-consuming shadow extended in every direction, keeping the sunlight well away from the city's inner workings like a toxic umbrella. To see if the sky was still blue, Amy had to completely turn around; the sky was blotted out by the city. Tall buildings jutted forth into the sky like dark needles. The stench was worse than ever; it was impossible to differentiate the variety of wastes this city produced. Separating the city from the forest was a sea of brown grass and tall brown weeds, in futile struggle with the city's poison.

Towering over the buildings in the city was a huge ovoid monolith, obviously some kind of command center. It dwarfed everything around it, a potent symbol of power and control—a power and control in the hands of whatever wickedness possessed this city.

Amy had been to many cities, but not even Eggman's bases reeked of this much evil. Nor had they reeked this much.

She felt the breath being pressed out of her, and it wasn't solely due to the pollution. Even at this distance, she felt squeezed by the city. It was enormous, and every bit of it was forbidding. A threat to all, a warning not to approach. The monster lay in wait, a wordless but unsubtle menace. Her heart was racing, her breaths rapid and shallow; her body recognized the danger.

"Robotropolis."

Amy turned, startled. Sally had come up beside her, and her eyes were locked on the city. "The city's name is Robotropolis. Robotnik built this after he took over."

"Took over?" Amy whispered.

"Eleven years ago, my father was King of Acorn," Sally explained, still focused on the city. "We'd just come out of a war, a war everyone was sure would be the last. We were looking forward to peace so much that we let our guard down. So Robotnik betrayed us in that moment. He took control of… well, everything. He had the capitol completely in his grasp within a day. From there he spread like a cancer, devouring city after city and making it all part of his empire."

She shook her head. "I was only five at the time, I barely understood. Rosie was my nanny. Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor were my friends. She escaped with us out of the city—somehow she realized something bad was going on. I… I don't really remember," Sally admitted, her hands shaking slightly now. "Rosie never really explained to me how it happened. But… she got us away. Got us into the forest."

Sally pointed back. "My family had just finished planning a royal retreat, which they called Knothole. It was barely even started then. But Rosie knew about it, and knew it was well-hidden. She took us there. For the first five or six years, we stayed there, willfully ignorant to everything."

Now Sally had to sit, staring holes in the ground, unable to meet Amy's face. "We were lucky. Few others escaped. Bunnie's family… Antoine's family… Rotor's family… Sonic's uncle… my… father… all of them were captured or killed."

She shook her head again, as if trying to break free from the nightmare she lived. "I guess I shouldn't feel the way I do, but… when you were talking about how your Eggman almost takes over the world, but never manages it… I felt so… well, some jealousy, and some anger, and a few other things. You guys only need to keep Eggman from conquering your world, but my world is already conquered! Sonic and I, we didn't even have a chance to stop it! Instead, it's our job to take it back, and it's… well, it's very… different…"

Amy couldn't react. The Sally she'd seen up to now was so mature, so emotionally stable, that seeing her distraught shook Amy. It also spoke to the severity of the princess' task. Sally evened out her breathing, regaining control once more. "So I told you a half-truth when you asked me about Antoine. Technically, I am a princess. But that title doesn't mean anything right now. That… freak… Robotnik has my kingdom. It's my responsibility to take it back. To help everyone take back their lives and homes."

"Now I understand," Amy said. "Except during the party, there's always been a shadow on your mood. Your mind is always working on something you hated to think about. The shadow… it's this city."

"I wish it was that simple," said Sally. "This is the capital city, but it's not the only one. Robotnik owns most of the world."

"Not the only city?" Amy said, staggering. The weight upon her chest greatly increased. "And you're taking this all on by yourself!"

"Not entirely by myself," Sally answered. "Other groups fight in other places, but even if they win completely, they can't win the war. Only we can do that because Robotnik himself is here. Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, and me… we're the ones who have to finish this."

"Just the five of you against all that?" Amy breathed.

Sally stood again. "But that's not even the worst of it," she said. "There's one thing more. Come on, I'll show you the last secret. The last and the most terrible."

Amy didn't want to see the last secret anymore! But Sally continued on, heading straight for the heart of the darkness, and Amy couldn't help but be swept along.

Disgusting as the city had been from far away, moving through it was torture. The air was so thick pieces of it clung to Amy's fur. Her eyes watered constantly, stung by the noxious fumes. A thin layer of muck covered the ground; every step sent it splashing and swirling. Her lungs protested about breathing the heavy air; with the pace Sally was setting, even Amy's well-conditioned body screamed for a stop.

Sally's pace was impressive, but less impressive than the girl herself. Amy had never felt badly about her ability to move quietly, but she felt like a lumbering elephant compared to Sally. Sally's thin body and sheer skill made her ethereal, slipping through the layers of smog and slime without trace or sound. She was a wraith, undetectable and unstoppable.

It was amazing how well Sally had adapted to moving and fighting in this environment. She was moving swiftly and silently, things Amy never would have suspected she could do. In a straight-up race, Amy knew she was faster than Sally; but, as Sally had said, the princess was a product of her world, and Amy was no native.

To think Amy had started with so many questions—now she didn't want any answers! She couldn't have asked them anyway—the city's rot, darkness, and sheer MASS were squeezing her lungs and her skull.

All of which gave rise to all-consuming...

Sally stopped.

It was so abrupt Amy almost slammed into the older girl. Before Amy realized what was going on, Sally had grabbed ahold of her dress and run her into a nearby alley. Sally kept pushing until the two of them were on the ground behind a pile of refuse.

Sally pressed a finger over Amy's lips. Amy didn't want to talk, she wanted to breathe! Nothing could be louder, she thought, than her ragged breaths and pounding heart. The sound thundered in the alley.

The slightest of buzzing sounds appeared.

Now Amy tried to stifle her own breathing.

The buzz sound never grew louder, and in a few seconds vanished altogether.

"Stealth Orb," Sally whispered, barely audible. "Floating cameras on small hover platforms. Robotnik's eyes and ears."

Amy nodded, though her mind was frozen. Her perceptions were like those of a poorly-tuned TV receiver: the sound was full of fuzz and the picture was hazy at best.

"We're almost there," Sally continued. "Another thirty seconds of running. We can wait a little, but not long."

Amy nodded again, slowly getting to her feet. She concentrated on pushing her lungs, trying to circulate the air. Way too soon, Sally was tugging on her again. She waved slightly and geared up to run once more.

If Sally was honest, and they were only thirty seconds away, those were the longest thirty seconds of Amy's life.

After several eternities, Sally brought Amy to a halt inside a run-down building. Sally began moving through it, but at a leisurely pace. "We're safe for now," she said.

Amy was gassed, but somehow she managed to look around. She could recognize some chairs and tables, despite absurd amounts of dust and grime. Glass crunched underfoot. She knelt down—picture frames!

"This was a… house?" she gasped.

"An apartment," Sally said, not even breathing hard. "This was an apartment building. No one's lived here for eleven years."

"Did they run?" Amy asked.

"They probably tried. I don't think they got away, though. Most didn't. There are only a few villages out there, fewer every year. Everyone else was killed, or… worse."

"Worse?" breathed Amy.

"The last secret," Sally said. "This way."

Once more, Sally led, this time to an apartment on the opposite side of the building. "Look through the window," she said.

Robots.

Lots of robots.

It was a full-out construction effort, the robots swarming over a site that looked like it'd recently been burned. There was something strange about the robots, though…

"They look like animals," Amy said.

"They are animals."

"What!"

Sally pressed a finger to her lips, but it did little to ease Amy's panic. "All those robots that look like animals… they ARE animals. Animals, people, turned into robots."

Amy shook her head slightly. This was a nightmare! Her own world was so bright and cheery and… and normal! But this place was perverse, everything wrong with it, a world gone crazy, gone totally down the tubes, doomed and condemned and lost to the void already so how can people still…

"Let's get out of here," said Sally. "We can talk things out once we're safely away."

Amy couldn't help but agree.

After several nights in Knothole, Amy had thought the smells of the forest annoying. Upon her return there from Robotropolis, she found them glorious.

"How's it all possible?" she said. Her normal ditz-like tones were long gone, broken by the weight of what she'd seen. "How could things go that wrong?"

"Sometimes I wonder that myself," said Sally. "Partly it's because it took so long for anyone to fight back. We only started a true resistance four or five years ago. I've heard of groups in other places fighting longer, but like I said before, this fight is the only one that can be decisive. Knothole versus Robotropolis, right here."

"It's not doable," Amy said, dazed. "How can anyone fight all that?"

Sally looked away. "What am I supposed to do? Give up? Stop fighting and try to ignore him, until those factories finally kill the forest and expose us for good? No, I can't stop fighting. I refuse to stop. I owe it to everyone—Sonic, and Bunnie, everyone in Knothole, everyone everywhere. I owe it to them to fight."

"How can you owe that much?" Amy said.

Sally turned, evading Amy's stares. "I owe it," she said steadily, "because I can do it. I've got the planning ability, the intelligence and the memory. I have the talent and skill and the physical ability. I have friends I can count on, strong fighters in their own right. It's not much to work with—but it's enough to put up a fight. And if I can fight… then I will."

Amy shook her head. "You're only four years older than I am," she said. "Four years older… but there's a huge gap between us. We're as different as two people can be."

"We're from different worlds," Sally said. She turned back to Amy, a wry smile on her face. "Since you arrived, I've fantasized about a few things. What I would be doing on a world as peaceful as yours. What my life would be. Would I be a fighter at all? What people would I know? What would I be using my abilities to do? Would I be fighting that Eggman of yours? Would I have to? My world hasn't given me many options, but your world does."

She looked down. "Normally I repress that kind of thought. It doesn't do me much good. But… it was nice to think about. I'm really jealous, you know. Your world is so… free."

"The people are," Amy agreed, mind still numb. "Unlike your people."

Sally nodded. "Exactly. Unlike my people, slaves to a bloody-handed tyrant."

"How can he turn people into robots?" Amy asked.

"A device called the Roboticiser," Sally explained. "It converts every biological process into an equivalent robotic one, replaces flesh with metal, neurons with circuits… it's amazing technology in twisted hands."

Realization struck home. "Oh my… Bunnie," Amy gaped.

Again, Sally nodded. "Bunnie. She was captured and partially Roboticized herself. We rescued her before the process could finish, but…" she trailed off. "Here's a little statistics for you. If we go on a mission that only has a 1 chance of failure, we're fine, right? But that 1 doesn't stand alone. It compounds. The next mission has a 1 chance of failure on its own, but you have to add the fact that we didn't fail last time. Every time we succeed we greatly increase the chance that the next time something goes wrong. Even if everything goes right, it gets more dangerous each time we go back."

Sally began counting off on her fingers. "So you see, we can't just blow everything up. We have to slow down Robotnik's industry and destroy his empire, but we have to do it with limited resources and without killing all the people he's enslaved. And we have to find a way to reverse the Roboticiser process."

"Why'd you have to show it all to me?" Amy said, becoming angry. "Why'd you have to… to take me to that wretched, hateful place? Why did I have to see it? Were you trying to freak me out or put me in danger?"

"I'm insulted you'd say something like that," Sally said, calm. "You've seen what I'm up against. You know I have to plan carefully. I had two reasons for taking you there. First, it's the best way to show you exactly what our situation is. With what you've seen, you should be able to answer most of your questions on your own. The second reason is more important. I had to get you exposed to Robotropolis, the sooner the better."

"Why!" Amy screeched. "Why expose me to that?"

"Because if you want to go home," said Sally, hackles rising, "you have to go back there. Back to Robotropolis."

Amy's fury vanished, replaced by fear once more.

Sally's temper had risen slightly at the girl's impatience, but she quickly regained control. "I finished my analysis of the hole you fell through. It's a byproduct of Robotnik's research on dimensional borders. Over the past few nights, Sonic and I have done some information-gathering inside Robotropolis. We've found the experiments Robotnik's been running and we know what to do. I can return you to your world, if you want."

"Please, do," Amy whimpered. This twisted planet—she wanted out out out from Mobius!

"But to do it, we all need to get inside the lab," Sally explained. "I need to get you, physically, to the portal. So to go home, you have to go back through Robotropolis."

Amy staggered backwards. "You went there twice over the past few nights?" she said, brain still trying to process everything. "Just for me?"

"Just for you," Sally said.

"How can you do it?" Amy said, still not comprehending. "You go there so often, to fight a war you have so little hope of winning… I just don't understand! It's one thing to stop someone from taking over the world, it's way different trying to get back a world that's been taken over! How can you do it when you're all by yourself?"

Unexpectedly, Sally smiled. It wasn't for show; it was a genuine, heartfelt—somewhat spiteful—smile. "Robotnik hasn't broken me yet," she said, tinges of defiance and humor in her voice. "I told you already, I can put up a fight—and Robotnik damn sure won't get me without one. Besides, I think some of Sonic's denial of statistics is rubbing off on me. I made up my mind, and Robotnik will have to kill me to stop me."

"But that might happen!" Amy squealed.

The smile broadened. "I know. And it's funny you talk about it like this—most people in Knothole can't handle being Freedom Fighters. Sonic, myself, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine… that's what we call ourselves. The Freedom Fighters. Most people can't handle it. The city crushes them, or they're paralyzed by the fear. Very rarely we bring someone else with us, and it's always a mistake. Antoine is a coward, but he somehow finds the nerve to come with us—which is why we bring him along, even though he can't do much. Having just that much extra emotional support can keep us from collapsing."

Sally shrugged. "We're fighting absolute evil. We're the only ones who can fight, so we do. It's hard, I won't lie; and it's dangerous, as our scars and Bunnie's limbs prove. But what else can we do? We're Freedom Fighters. It's all on us."

She laughed. "It's funny to hear all of that coming from me. I'm the one who's always insecure. I'm the one who worries incessantly, who gives myself nightmares. But that's part of being princess. It's part of being a Freedom Fighter. It's what I do."

As Sally fell silent, Amy could only stare at the older girl. No, not girl; it was time to stop using that term. Woman. The older woman.

She kept smiling! In spite of it all, Sally was smiling—not because she was happy, but because she refused to cry. As Amy watched Sally continue to smile, she sensed a fathomless depth of strength and resolve. If Amy were in Sally's position, the pressure would have crushed her. In Sally's case, it had pressed and pushed and squeezed until her soul was like a diamond—totally unyielding and glorious to behold.

Silence settled over them for a few moments. Sally grabbed Nicole for a moment, checked something, then replaced it. "One thing you're wrong about," she said.

"What?"

Sally smiled. "I'm not quite alone."

A new sound appeared—Sonic's running, approaching.

Sonic slid to a halt between the two females. "Woah, Ames, you've seen better days," he said, brushing her shoulders off.

"I suppose I have," Amy replied, trying desperately to be cheerful.

When he turned to Sally, his joviality was gone. "So she's been inside, right?"

"Right."

"Any problems?"

She shrugged. "Nothing eventful happened in the city, if that's what you're asking."

Sonic glanced back at Amy, then back to Sally. "So, we juicing?"

"Yes."

With total familiarity, Sally jumped into Sonic's arms. One arm went under her knees, the other behind her shoulders; she linked her arms around his neck, bracing her body to his. It was so natural-looking they must have done it a thousand times before.

"Grab a hold of the straps, Ames," Sonic called back to her, referring to his backpack. Amy obliged. "Hold on tight, I'm takin' off."

Amy's eyes lingered for a few seconds on Sonic and Sally. Despite the close contact, they hardly seemed to notice each other.

No, that wasn't quite the case. They noticed each other as much as one notices oneself.

And then she stopped noticing everything, because Sonic was running, running, running…


	6. Chapter 6

"Would you like someone to talk to?"

Sally was looking at Amy with kindness in her eyes.

Amy shook her head. 'Yes, I want someone to talk to,' she thought. 'Anyone but you!'

Sonic, not noticing, waved his hand before his nose. "Phew, Sal, if I didn't already know you'd gone to Robo-town, my nose would tell me now."

Sally smirked. "You're only able to say that because you didn't go with me. What were you doing that was so important?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, you see, with all the action we've been seein' lately, you can never be too prepared. Ya gotta stay in tip-top condition, mind and body both. I was sharpenin' the edge."

"You could have just said you were asleep."

"Hey, I can't give away all my tricks."

"We'll see just how sharp your edge is. Come on, we're doing the obstacle course."

"Aww, do we have to?"

"Yes. Now come on."

"Way past uncool…"

And with that, Amy was cast adrift.

Knothole was infuriatingly normal.

Amy hated them all. Their world was dying all around them, but somehow they acted as if nothing was wrong at all. It was like Knothole existed inside a bubble, disconnected from the rest of everything.

The citizens were acting the same as they had been the other days Amy had been here. The casual atmosphere, the chores, the socializing—all continued as they had. But how could they? Amy wondered. She'd expected that when she didn't know about the war. But how could they be so carefree? How could they avoid the guilt? Sonic and Sally were sweating blood in a hopeless war, all to save the useless hides of Knothole's denizens. How could any of them live with themselves?

Tails noticed Amy's aimless wandering. "Hi, Amy. Where've you… oh." He squirmed, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Have you ever been there?" Amy asked.

"Not often," Tails admitted. "And never very deep."

"Why doesn't anyone ever talk about it?"

"Well…"

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone mention that you just happen to be at war?"

Amy's fear and uncertainty came boiling up out of her. She was sorry to be taking it out on Tails, but he was the only person she could talk to. "It doesn't make sense! Why all the make-believe? Why is guard duty the only hint that something's out there? How can any of you convince yourself that you're doing enough?"

She panted a few times. "I am not very strong," she said, eyes and voice reproachful, "but when I know something is this wrong, I pick up my mallet and go do something about it! Why do five people do all the fighting here?"

"Because, sugah, we-all wanted it like that."

Amy followed the voice back to Bunnie. "Bunnie," she gasped, for the first time seeing just what the metal limbs meant.

Bunnie's eyes held calm and kindness, neutral to Amy's gaze. "Ah was about to make mah-self some tea. C'mon, we'll share."

Amy followed automatically.

Bunnie didn't mention Amy's smell or appearance, though Amy was certain she'd noticed. She just went about the business of making tea, courteously and with no hurry.

Amy's mind was working the whole time, chewing over facts and trying to spit out answers. But mostly, she wondered what Bunnie could possibly plan to say.

It seemed like she planned to say nothing.

"Ah guess it's because we're cowards," she said out of the blue.

Amy almost missed it. "What?"

"Yeah, it's because we're cowards," Bunnie repeated. "That's why we try not to take others to Robo-town. Y'all know how dangerous it is. We've lost some friends takin' them along. It hurt too much. The five of us, we're just better at it, Ah suppose. Or luckier. 'Ts the same thing, kinda, when you're talkin' 'bout war."

She handed a mug to Amy. "You see, Amy-girl, we ain't no army. We-all lost our families, friends, homes, everything. So we made each other family. We learned to love each other 'fore we learned to fight Robotnik."

The opening door drew Amy's attention away. Rotor entered the room. "Oh, you're making tea, Bunnie? I'll take some of that."

"Help yourself, sugah," she said, smiling benignly. "Rotor, y'all don't suppose that any of the guard stations ac-shully help protect us, do ya?"

"Not a chance," said Rotor, right before taking a long sniff of his tea. "If the guards find anything more than a lost Swatbot or two, we're probably doomed."

"But we can evacuate, right?" Bunnie continued. "Ah mean, we've all practiced the drill. We know the hidin' places to go to just in case."

Rotor shook his head. "But it wouldn't be Knothole," he insisted. "It wouldn't be home. I had to run from one home, Bunnie, and I don't think I could do it again." He took a long sip of tea. "Besides," he said, smirking a little, "Robotnik would burn the whole area. Even if we got away, we'd probably end up starving to death."

"Now there's a cheery thought," said Bunnie, taking a sip herself.

"So why do you have guards?" asked Amy.

"To make ze citizens feel, how you say, full of use," said Antoine, entering with a swagger. "Mademoiselle, if moi is not botherment to you, I would appree-ciate some of your exquisite tea."

"Aw, it ain't nothin' that special," said Bunnie, who nonetheless blushed slightly as she served Antoine.

"As I was saying," Antoine went on, "all of ze citizens are ze Freedom Fighters. Ho, but only ze bravest of ze brave can go on ze daring and bold missions to ze terrifyingable city. Zo, how can ze othairs help, or feel like zey are helping? Ze duty of guard."

"Isn't that a bit dishonest?" Amy countered.

"No way," said Sonic (who had evidently made short work of the obstacle course). "Yo, Bunnie, show the hedgehog some love."

She raised an eyebrow. "You wantin' some tea or some kisses, sugar-hog?"

"Woah, hit reverse!" he said, gesturing wildly. "I just want somethin' to drink."

"That's what I thought," she said.

"Anyway," said Sonic, getting back on track, "everyone's happy 'bout the guard duty situation. It gets 'em fired up, and we need that. It keeps our eyes on the prize, too. Trust me, when we're out there on guard duty, pretty much all you can think about is Robuttnik. That's why I get so antsy—I've gotta stay there, but I can't stand not doing something when he's on my mind."

"And you've got no patience," said Sally, rotating her shoulder. (Perhaps the obstacle course had been a bit rougher than she'd planned.) "Hi, Bunnie, I'd love it if you'd pour me some tea."

"Sure thing, Sally-girl."

"So guard duty makes everyone feel involved, and that lets you only take the five of you to Robotropolis," Amy said.

"That's right," said Sally. "It's being elitist, I know. But the fewer and the stronger, the better. We need everyone's support, for emotional reasons and to make sure we've got the food and goods to survive here; and we've got a few reserves who we use when we need to. But for missions, I try to keep the numbers down. I'd trust anyone in Knothole with my life—but I wouldn't bring them to Robotropolis, because I don't trust myself with their lives."

"There she goes again," groaned Rotor.

"Sally's on another one of her guilt-trips," Sonic said, making faces at her.

"My preencess, how many times must we be telling to you zat you are ze great wonderment?"

"Yeah, that cheered her up," said Sonic, rolling his eyes.

"Sally-girl needs ta eat more chocolate," Bunnie said, sipping her tea again. "'Course, it would help if we had any chocolate 'round here."

Amy looked at the five of them, a mug in each of their hands. They were at ease with each other, even when they were bickering. There were bonds of friendship and love here that went beyond anything she knew on her own world.

"Oh," began Rotor, "I just remembered. I dug up a few of our training shells. Amy, you're going back to Robotropolis, right?"

"I guess," she said, uncertain.

"Right," he said. "You're gonna have to train, at least a little. So come with me, and you can knock the shells around a while. It's fun," he said, smiling.

"Wait, wait," she said. "Shells?"

"Of course. Dead Swatbot shells."

* * *

It stood about seven feet tall to Amy's three. It was humanoid in shape, with broad shoulders and long limbs. It looked strong, and though this model had seen better days its armor was mostly intact. Its head was a dome or a half-sphere, with a single red glass stripe halfway up functioning as an eye.

It was a Swatbot.

It was also dead—Rotor assured her of that. She had to admit it was difficult to tell. Apparently they were called "shells" because Rotor had opened them up to scavenge all the "good parts"; then he'd resealed them and made up the weight to let others practice with them.

"There are two models," Rotor explained. "One has the blaster built-in to the arm, and the other carries a blaster. We've hit the Swatbot factories a lot, so they've been making more of the simple versions lately. Still, you always assume they've got a gun."

"But remember they don't need guns, Amy-girl," said Bunnie. Rotor and Bunnie had taken it upon themselves to train Amy for what she'd face. Antoine, curiously, had remembered a prior engagement. ("Last time we did this he hurt himself pretty bad," Sally admitted.) "They're stronger'n most animals, even though they're slow. Size does mean somethin'."

"Well, if they're slow, I have a chance," said Amy, trying to stay confident. "Are they accurate with those blasters?"

Rotor shrugged. "If you only give them a second or two, no. Give them three, and they'll hit you."

Amy drew back. "I'm gonna have to get used to that," she said. "The robots on my world aren't accurate at all."

"Let's just say, never let 'em shoot," said Bunnie. Abruptly, Bunnie leapt, rolled, half-rose, and swept the Swatbot's feet out from under it. She then rose fully and cocked her robotic arm above the Swatbot's head. About two seconds had elapsed.

"Heh, if Ah go all-out we'd need to get a new shell," she joked. "Ah don't expect you to do that, Amy-girl, but have you done much fightin' on your world?"

Amy was still trying to make sure she'd seen it right. Bunnie had covered ten feet and defeated the robot before Amy was sure of what was going on. "Yeah," she said, "but it's more open. I have more time to see the robot and more space to work with."

Rotor shook his head. "Space is bad," he said. "I don't know who designs your enemy's robots, but he's an idiot. Large spaces favor shooting. All of our fighting is up-close; you start ten, fifteen feet away and take him out, fast. Any more than that and the Swatbots win."

"Use disguises, use cover, use distractions, whatever," said Bunnie. "Just get close. Get too close for blasters before they can shoot ya."

"Well, it all makes sense," said Amy, her pride injured. She didn't want them making fun of how combat was in her world! In her world, there was always room to maneuver and the bots weren't good at shooting; straight-line runs and leaps were the key to success. They were how she (and Sonic, for that matter) generated the power to break robots quickly.

Rotor had, from somewhere, produced a rope with a grapple on the end. As Bunnie stood the shell back up, Rotor twirled the grapple end. Then, on some unseen signal, he launched the rope. It passed just over the Swatbot's dome head; Rotor had somehow limited the amount of rope that was going out, such that the grapple was on the small of the bot's back. Rotor pulled; as the rope came back to him, the grapple caught on the back of the bot's head, unbalanced the robot, and brought it face-down. Once more, Rotor quickly closed and positioned to finish the Swatbot.

"I'm not fast, so my specialty is rope," said Rotor. "Most of the time I don't fight directly; I fight security systems and that sort of thing. Hey, you want to start practicing, or is there some kind of weapon we can get you? We don't have much."

"Do you have a mallet?" Amy asked.

Rotor considered, then nodded. "Hang on a second."

The mallet was wood and heavier than she would have liked. She weighed it in her hands, trying to get a feel for it. Bunnie had stood the shell up again; Amy faced it down.

"Whenever you're ready," said Bunnie.

Amy took a deep breath, then charged. I'll aim for the heart, she thought to herself, like I do back home. A strong enough blow aimed at the heart sends the outer armor slicing inwards; the bot's own components do it damage. That's usually enough to break a bot back home.

She leapt, wound up, and brought the mallet forward.

WHAM!

The force of the impact jarred her hands, arms, and shoulders, rattling her rib cage and jiggling everything else. She landed on her feet with some grace; the Swatbot was jolted backwards and fell loudly.

"That was some hit!" cried Bunnie. "Y'all got some power hidin' in there, Amy-girl."

"Thanks, Bunnie," said Amy, wiping her brow.

"But ya need to finish the job," said Bunnie. "C'mon, look at this. Ya dented the front armor, but you didn't break it. So once you knock it down, you need to do somethin' to keep it down. Another blow to the chest might break through, but we usually go fer the head and neck."

Amy nodded, soaking it all in.

"One last thing," said Rotor. "If we have to fight, something's very wrong."

Amy blinked. "What?"

"These things are tough and dangerous, and there's lots of them. We try not to fight if we can possibly avoid it. I mean, even if we win, it would probably give away that we're there—and then we have to get out, fast."

She shook her head. "I keep forgetting about that. No matter what happens, you still have to get out of the city safely."

"That's right," Rotor affirmed.

"One more thing," Amy said. "How many Swatbots can you fight and beat?"

Bunnie looked up in contemplation. "Ah can do two safely," she said. "Maybe three. Sally-girl's about the same, maybe a bit better. Ah heard she took six one time, but she rigged the situation."

"I'm only a one, which is what most people can do," said Rotor bashfully. "I can take two if I can set it up right. Antoine…. Well, we'll say one."

"From what I've seen, Amy-girl, you're maybe a two," said Bunnie. "But you gotta remember safety first."

"Wait, what about Sonic?" Amy persisted. "How many can he fight at once?"

"Sonic's special," Bunnie said. "Most of the time he doesn't destroy 'em. Mostly decoys 'em. Thing is, he's really good at gettin' knockdowns, but unless he hits a Swatbot square-on it'll get back up, and he doesn't have time to finish 'em proper. But that's not his job."

"I get it," said Amy.

"So come on, Amy," said Rotor. "Let's get started. You want to go home? Fight this guy a few times and we'll talk about how you did."

Amy hefted her mallet and started anew.

* * *

Night had fallen before she was done. Eventually the darkness had made it impossible to continue. They'd made good progress; Bunnie and Rotor had agreed she could reliably take out one Swatbot, maybe two. This didn't make Amy feel any better, but apparently taking two by yourself was quite an accomplishment.

As she wandered back to her own hut, she saw that one hut still had lights on. When Amy went by, she saw it was Sally's hut. The shutters were mostly closed, but still some light spilled out. Amy decided to go in that direction; without that light to guide by, she wasn't sure she'd be able to find her hut again.

To her surprise, she heard the sounds of Sonic running, then a few knocks on Sally's door.

Curiosity won out over shame. Amy positioned herself to the side of Sally's window and pricked up her ears. "Oh, hi, Sonic," Sally was saying.

"Hey, Sal. Still up plannin'?"

"Yes, like always."

"What'cha plannin'? Gettin' Amy home?"

"That's right. Don't roll your eyes like that, it takes a lot of work! You know this is the sort of mission I hate the most—the kind where we have unknown factors. We've got to get her home, but we can't count on her performance."

Amy wasn't sure whether if she should admire Sally's accuracy or be insulted by Sally's patronage.

"Just count on me to take up the slack. That's how it always works."

"Sonic, I refuse to plan around your ego, unless it means counting on you to do stupid stuff."

"Sal…"

Sonic's tone was different, now. So far the conversation had been normal, but Amy was picking up a definite change in mood.

"Sal, this isn't… normal, I know. It's usually you needin' me to… y'know, keep you steady. But…"

And now Sally's voice was unexpectedly tender. "I know, Sonic. It's okay."

"It's just there's no one else I can say this sorta thing to, right? Most other people, I do too good a job on 'em—my cool floors 'em too much, like that Amy girl. You're the only person who I can… well…"

"I understand, Sonic. You can say it whenever you're ready."

There was a sigh, and a pause.

"They moved Uncle Chuck."

Amy had never heard such sadness out of Sonic's voice, on this world or her own.

"Sal, it took me fifteen months to find him last time! I don't know what's goin' on, but I went to check up on him again, and he wasn't there. I checked the… the whole factory. And don't even start with the "that's too dangerous" stuff, Sal, I had to find him!"

"I wasn't going to."

"But he wasn't there," Sonic continued. "Nowhere in the factory. I thought he might have been getting a tune up or something, but that didn't work, either. I lost him again, Sal. I lost my uncle again."

Amy remembered now. Sally had mentioned that Sonic had lost his uncle when Robotnik took over, but she hadn't specified if he'd been captured or killed. If she was following this correctly, it meant Sonic's uncle had been captured—and Roboticized. Now Sonic was trying to keep tabs on where his uncle ended up working in the city.

"We knew already that Robotnik likes to shift the worker bots around. You knew this would happen."

"That doesn't make it any easier, Sal. You know how it is. I've gotta be able to find him fast, so that if we ever get a de-Roboticiser working he can go through first. But if Robuttnik keeps me from findin' him, then even if we get the de-Roboticiser online I won't get my uncle back."

Amy heard booted footsteps; apparently Sally was moving closer to Sonic. "Sal?" he said, curious.

"Sonic Hedgehog, listen to how selfish you're being!" she shouted at him with unexpected force. "We Freedom Fighters made a promise to each other—we're gonna get back everyone's family, everyone's home. I intend to keep that promise. Why, you're relatively lucky—I've never been able to find what happened to my father! You've found your uncle three times in the past, that's a lot. So quit whining and get focused. Are we clear?"

There was a stunned silence from Sonic and Amy both.

She almost heard Sally smile. "Besides, I'm the one who's supposed to get depressed. If you're down, who's gonna cheer me up?"

Sonic laughed. "You really had me goin' there, Sal!"

"I have to keep in practice," Sally answered.

"Sally… thanks."

"Anytime, Sonic."

"See ya tomorrow?"

"Well, we can't really avoid it."

"That's not… man, Sal, there you go again."

"I know."

Another silence.

"Sal… it's just…"

"It's alright. Come back any time. Heaven knows I rely on you a lot for the same thing."

"…Thanks."

Amy suddenly realized that she hadn't been invited to the conversation. She pushed off from the hut's wall and tried to look like she was heading for her own hut. Sonic sped past, then looped about and appeared before her. "Hey, Ames," he said.

"Hi," she said, uncertain and unsteady.

Sonic was all smiles. "Huh," he said vaguely. "It's just as well. If you'd've asked right-out, I'd've had to lie to you."

"What does…" Amy started, but Sonic was continuing.

"We're cowards, you know," he said, walking past Amy. "Gotta keep each other away when you're in a war, just in case. I'll see you tomorrow, Ames."

He ran off.

Amy heard Sally open her shutters. She turned around to see Sally staring in the direction Sonic had run.

Sally noticed her after several seconds. "Oh, hi, Amy."

Amy pointed at Sally, then at Sonic's wake. "Are you two…?"

"Of course not," said Sally, stiffly.

It clicked. All of it suddenly made sense. Amy laughed out loud.

"What is it?" said Sally, genuinely confused.

"It's just… I thought you'd say that," Amy said. And then she continued on back to her own hut, feeling terribly alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Amy saw Sally at breakfast the next morning.

"Sally? I'd like to go back to my own world. I'll do what I have to."

Sally nodded. "The mission's planned. We'll be ready tonight, if that's alright."

Amy likewise nodded. "Everyone back home must be terribly worried about me! It's time, you know? Just time."

"I understand completely. Work with Bunnie and Rotor on the shells again, and then take a nap after noon. We're going in tonight."

Amy nodded. "Sally? Just… well, thanks for everything. For taking me in, and going to all this effort to send me back."

"No one should have to stay here who doesn't want to," Sally said.

"Like I said, thanks."

Amy shivered despite the heat. Just how missed was she? There was no way to know. On the other hand, she was quite sure that if someone from Knothole went missing, everyone would know.

It was so different from home. Back home, everybody could be miles away for days at a time, and that was normal. But normal was also safe back home. Here, there was danger every day that was unheard of in Station Square—but there was also a sense of community she'd never known.

"Hey Sal," said Sonic, entering the room at high speed. "It's time for the ring. Wanna help me snag it?"

"Sorry, I'm busy," Sally said. "Here, Amy, do you want to go?"

"What'll I be seeing?" said Amy, confused.

"Just say you'll come," said Sonic.

"I'll come," said Amy vaguely.

"Alright, past cool. Hold on to the straps, Ames," he said, gesturing to his backpack.

A few blurs later, Sonic came to a stop alongside the clearest pool of water she'd ever seen.

It was deep for its small size. It was smaller than a typical swimming pool, but about twenty feet deep. The waters themselves were clean, like the creek around Knothole; indeed, the waterfall that fed this pool looked like it came from the creek, and water flowed out of the pool along the creek's course. Amy peered into the waters and spied some sort of machine, nestled at the bottom.

Abruptly, that part of the waters began to glow gold. "Alright, just in time," Sonic said. He trotted over to a long log that extended over the pool. "C'mon, Ames, gimme a hand."

Amy followed him, noting that the end of the log was right before the glow's source. She extended a hand to him; he grasped it and used the balance to reach further out over the water.

Without warning, the glow intensified, and something shot up out of the water, spraying the very cold liquid everywhere. Amy looked away, but felt Sonic lunge; then he was back on the log, hustling her off of it.

When both were on solid ground again, Amy looked to Sonic to see him holding a large ring. It was about a foot in diameter, and it looked like it was made of pure gold. It was glowing in his hands, emitting a soft light that encouraged Amy to stare.

"This is a power ring," Sonic said. "My uncle made 'em. They're my not-so-secret weapons. I use this thing, I get a way-past-huge boost of energy. Doesn't last too long—usually just long enough to scoot-and-root outta there. But hey, that's all I need it to do."

"Wow," Amy breathed. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," said Sonic. Then he clutched it to his chest and closed his eyes.

Amy knew enough about this world to understand what this meant. To Sonic, this wasn't just a weapon or a tool. It was hope in solid form. Using these, Sonic could survive when he otherwise wouldn't. These rings had doubtlessly saved him often, and they promised to do so again.

And if he could just keep surviving, then maybe, one day…

Sonic stuffed the ring in his backpack. "Gotta hang on to this for tonight," he said. "You ready to go home, Ames?"

"Am I ever!" she said.

Sonic laughed, then turned away. "It ain't so bad, you know," he said. "Living here… you get used to it. Heck, people go out of their way to try and find this place, trying to live here."

"It's probably better than most other places on Mobius," she said.

He chuckled. "Yeah, that's right. C'mon, let's get back to Knothole."

An oasis in the desert.

* * *

Ten eyes peered out of the Great Forest's border, gazing across the sea of grass at the hostile city waiting for them.

Sally looked at her companions. Sonic, Rotor, Bunnie, and of course Amy. Sonic, Rotor, and Sally all wore backpacks. "Are we ready?" she asked.

They nodded. Amy did, too, and the motion caused her stomach to clench itself in knots.

Sally held up her wrist. "Synchronize… now."

Four watches beeped as one. Amy hadn't been given one because, if the mission succeeded, she'd have no chance to return it.

"You know what's up," Sonic said to Bunnie and Rotor. "Catch ya on the flip side."

"Later, sugar-hog," Bunnie's cheery voice returned. Bunnie and Rotor were already setting off across the brown.

Sonic yawned. "We've got a few minutes to kill, if we're going in with my speed."

"No, I want us to be less conspicuous," said Sally. "We'll walk."

Sonic grimaced. "C'mon, Sal. You know I hate going in there at anything less than full throttle. 'Sides, Amy isn't used to it. She'll be noisier than my running."

The words surprised Amy. It was the first time that she could remember where his criticism was meant in all seriousness—and it hurt more for that fact.

Sally's face had uncertainty. "Amy, can you handle it?" she said.

Another surprise—Sally was trusting Amy more than Sonic was. "Sure," she said, not knowing if she spoke the truth.

"We can always use your speed if we have to," Sally said, "but for now, we walk."

A twinge of uncertainty passed over Sonic's face—but it was gone just as quickly. He yawned again. "Fine, fine, but it's so BORING. Can we nail a Swat-head, just for fun?"

Sally answered him by setting off at a jog across the brown.

Sonic laughed, and caught her easily. Amy did the same, and confirmed what she already knew—outside of the city, she was much faster than Sally.

But it didn't matter.

The second trip into Robotropolis was not quite as terrifying as the first. Amy had gotten some good advice about how to protect herself, and she was putting it to use. Close your eyes as much as you can get away with; never look up, it hurts your eyes and scares you more; focus on where you're going, especially when following someone; and keep your ears open, despite the city's cacophony.

It gave her a small surge of pride to know that she was adapting quickly, that she could manage herself much better now.

That pride was squashed when she realized that Sonic was almost as good as Sally at stealth.

"Subtlety… isn't something my Sonic needs," she gasped during a short break. "You could teach him… quite a bit, I think."

He smirked. "I'm sure he's cool in other ways. I told you already, I am the coolest there is, no matter what world I'm on."

"Don't get carried away, Mister Freon," Sally said. "The hardest is yet to come."

She was quite right.

The first time Amy had come here, Sally had only taken her to the outer rings of industrial production, the Freedom Fighter's favorite hunting grounds. This time, they had to go much deeper, towards the R&D facilities nestled close to the Headquarters.

Amy remembered the advice again—"Don't look up, and never look at the HQ"—but it was hard to resist. The city's nerve center was imposing as well as gigantic. Amy found it difficult not to look at it when she was heading right for it. Other problems began to manifest, also—the temperature was much higher here than around the city's edge, and the pollutants were still thicker. Amy felt for sure she'd hack up a lung before they reached their target.

The only good thing about the city was that some of the buildings weren't in use. The factories, facilities, power plants, and processing stations were all enormous, but the buildings around them were leftovers from the Mobians who'd lived there before—so they went unused. As thick as the city's industrial development had become, demolishing and disposing of all the old buildings was apparently too large a project, even for Robotnik.

This meant that there were several places where it was safe to stop and rest. Sally seemed to know them all by heart.

Sally led them to their target without incident. "There," she said. The three animals were hiding behind a bundle of cables, each cable thicker than Amy's thigh. "That building is where Robotnik was running his experiments. We confirmed it the other night—all the equipment it still there."

This side of the building did not have the main entrance. When Amy peered through the smog, she could barely make out a door, and a camera above it.

"How are we going to do this?" she asked.

"This building is almost the same as it was before the takeover," Sally said. "That used to be a fire escape. I'm pretty sure it goes all the way up. The target we're looking for is on floor twenty-two."

Sonic and Amy grimaced—which surprised Amy, at first. Then she realized that you can't go super-fast on stairs. "What about the camera?"

Sally looked at her watch and began mouthing numbers. "Sonic, we need you to get us across the gap quickly. Get us to the door and inside… from now… fifteen seconds."

Sonic scooped up Sally, Amy grabbed at his backpack, and he began counting.

The camera abruptly stopped moving. Sonic was to the fire escape almost before it ground to a halt.

Then they were inside, out of the smog—and into darkness. Robotnik might not have destroyed the fire escape, but he had neglected it.

"Remind me to say thanks to Rote," Sonic said. "He knows his job."

By now Sally was using Nicole as a flashlight, and was already headed up the stairs. "Come on," she said, "we don't have much time."

With the improvement in the air quality, Amy felt some of her strength returning. Even so, twenty-two flights of stairs drained her just as assuredly as the smog had.

On the twenty-second floor, Sally authorized a short break. "Is everyone okay?" she said.

Amy pointed down the stairs. "I lost my thigh muscles about the fourteenth floor, but I'll be fine," she said. "Just don't ask me to go get 'em again."

Sonic smiled. "Good one, Ames."

Sally looked at her watch. "We're a little behind," she said. "We've got to hurry."

As they left the safety of the fire escape, they entered a short hallway with T-intersections at each end. Sally led them forward, making no sounds. At the T, she glanced right and left, waved them on, and proceeded down the right hall. Again, another hallway, this one with doors on both sides; at its end was another T intersection. As before, Sally led the group forward—but once they were past all conceivable cover, disaster struck. A group of Swatbots, guarding a cart bearing some kinds of experimental circuitry, entered the intersection ahead.

There was no way to avoid them or hide from them—Sally shouted, "Sonic!"

The hedgehog zoomed ahead of his companions and zipped around the bots, the wind and motion throwing off their balance. Sally had already launched into a full sprint, at the same time digging into her backpack. Amy was by Sally's side; without taking her eyes from her goal Sally tossed Amy the borrowed mallet.

Amy got it in her hands just as she reached striking range. She could see one of the Swatbots turn to her. It began to raise its hand—

Amy leapt, mallet raised, almost scratching the ceiling with her weapon. She brought it down on that menacing dome head—and watched the dome give way to her fury. The red eye shattered and the entire dome imploded. Amy followed through with her strike, bringing the Swatbot all the way to the ground.

Amy shook, arms almost numb from the force of the impact. Within a moment she rose to help her friends—but the battle was over. Two Swatbots had had their limbs detached by Sally's skill and dexterity, while another had suffered what Amy clearly recognized as a Sonic Spin.

Sally took charge immediately. "This changes things," she said. "Time to go all-out, they'll find us in a matter of minutes."

"Sal, there," said Sonic. They were standing near a series of windows; the windows looked over some kind of bay. At the end of the bay was a heavy door; along the side of the bay was a control station.

"That's it, right?" said Sonic. "Those doors block the dimension-thingie, right?"

Sally glanced at the wrecked Swatbots, then at the window. "Sonic, we're going through," she said.

"You bet we are!" he said, smiling broadly. He cleared himself a little room, then charged the window with a spin. It gave way before him. Sally and Amy followed him down into the bay, then raced over to the control station.

Sally plugged Nicole in hastily. "Nicole, analysis."

"AFK encryption only, Sally. Estimated time to break: fifteen seconds."

"Do it," she said. "We're in luck—it's not the full encryption, just the codes that protect it while a bot goes and does something, then comes…"

WHAM!

Amy panted with exertion, but gave the bot another strike. She hadn't gotten a running start, so the first blow hadn't knocked it down; she had to hit it often to keep it off-balance.

Sonic rescued her. With one attack, he finished the bot and sent its parts skittering off across the bay.

"Good catch, Ames," he said. "I sure didn't see it 'till you jumped him."

Amy's heart fluttered involuntarily, but relief was a more pressing emotion.

"I'm through," Sally said. "I'll need a few seconds to configure the… oh no…"

"What?" said Sonic, as he and Amy gathered around Sally.

"Mmeh heh heh heh…"

* * *

Sonic and Sally were on-guard, but Amy was still wondering what was going on.

"Mmeh heh heh heh…"

Laughter—menacing, dark laughter, very deep in pitch. It came out of the darkness like a cold wave, chilling Amy from every direction.

"Mmeh heh heh heh…"

On the side of the bay opposite the portal, a giant screen flashed to life. The sudden light forced Amy to look away—and when she looked back, she gasped.

The head was almost laughable—cone-shaped, with metal pegs in place of ears and a fly-away mustache. But, as with Sally, it was the eyes that got you—black eyes with red pupils, deeply malicious, frighteningly cunning, inescapably sinister.

Amy had never seen this face nor heard this voice, but even she knew it was Robotnik.

"Hello, princess," he said—his voice carrying just enough charm to be terrifying. "Why, whatever are you doing here? Poking around again… nosy, aren't we?"

"We're sending this girl back," Sally said, staring back at her foe. Amy felt more like a child than ever witnessing this clash of wills.

"As I knew you would," he answered. "I discovered that, during my last experiment, something—the size of a person—had passed through. Imagine my surprise when, two days ago, I get this picture?"

A small image formed in the corner of Robotnik's screen. It clearly showed Sonic and Sally snooping near the building they were now in.

"The rest was simple," he said. "And expected."

Amy's insides began to freeze. She heard clanking footsteps—more clanking footsteps than she ever hoped to hear in her life.

The windows overlooking the bay began to fill with Swatbots.

"But I am not unreasonable," said Robotnik. "I see you continuing to work, even as you try to stare me down. I am not stupid, and neither am I unfair. This girl has no need to be here. I'll allow you to send her back unharmed… on one condition."

Sonic smiled viciously. "We're sending her back anyway, Robo-butt, and you can't stop us."

"Can't I?" said Robotnik, eyebrow raised.

"Name your condition," said Sally. Amy seized up—was she stalling for time, or actually listening to the proposal? Sonic seemed to be wondering the same thing.

And so did Robotnik. He recovered quickly. "Simple," he said. "You send the girl back… but you go with her."

"What?" said Sonic, voice dripping with scorn.

"Imagine it," said Robotnik. His voice was equally soothing and malicious. "You'll be able to escape this needless war without death. No one else needs to die, or even be Roboticised. You obviously can't get away, so one of those things will happen—but you can solve all of that, just by stepping through the portal. I'll even be content to make peace with Knothole, after you're gone. I'll stop my searches for it altogether."

He smiled. "This very generous offer is one-time only, I'm afraid. I'll let the girl go home, as long as you follow her—or all of you die. Well?"

The portal doors began to open. Sally unplugged Nicole and herded her companions toward it, never taking her eyes off of Robotnik. "You've broken enough pacts, Robotnik," she hissed. "I know better than to listen to anything you say."

The footsteps continued to grow in number and volume; every window was bristling with blasters. Red eyes glared from every vantage point. "Anything I say? Well then, judge me by what I do. Even now, more Swatbot reinforcements are pouring into this building. You can't get out. To escape, you must go through the portal."

The doors were fully open now, and so were the gates that had held back Amy's fear. "Do what he says," she said.

"What?" said Sonic, whirling.

"Come with me," she begged. "It's the only way! My world is safe—you don't have to worry about it!"

"Didn't you learn anything while you were here?" said Sally.

"There's no way we can leave now," said Sonic, gesturing emphatically.

"Touching, but you're out of options, hedgehog." Robotnik's voice had a grain of annoyance now. "There's no more posturing to do, no more pretending. It's time to face the facts—you were never going to win, and we all know it."

"Get out of this nightmare, please!" said Amy.

"It's a nightmare, sure, but it's our nightmare," said Sally.

Robotnik shook his head, making sounds of disapproval. "A true shame, princess. You never struck me as the foolish type."

The clanking stopped—though apparently the cause was running out of room to move in rather than running out of Swatbots. "I'm begging you, you're gonna be killed!" Amy said. "Just come with me!"

Abruptly, Sally and Sonic eased out of their battle-stances. They looked at each other for a brief moment, and they smiled, as some decision was made. Then Sally turned full to Amy, her eyes aglow with compassion—and some of Sonic's recklessness. "We told you before," she said. "This is our world. This is our home—and we're going to get it back! You have a world, too. You have a place to go back to. So… go home!"

Sally was on Amy before Amy could suspect what she would do. Sally performed some kind of throw—and Amy found herself going through the portal.

But even as she fell, she saw Sally slipping a hand into Sonic's backpack.

All Amy's orientations fell apart as the nothingness enveloped her; suddenly she was looking at the roof of the bay, and it was all so far from her, farther every second. She saw a blinding flash of gold—and heard an agonized scream that sounded very much like it had come from Robotnik.

And then she was falling, falling, falling, falling… again.

* * *

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "Five days she's been gone," he said again, to no one and everyone at once. "Five days! Something's wrong."

"We know, we know," said Tails, in harmony with the rest of the police station.

Sonic threw his hands into the air. "Fine, I'm out of here." He had neither the patience nor the inclination to sit around, waiting for nothing.

The business of Station Square went along as normal, unaware of Sonic's desperate search. He'd been over this many times already—heck, he'd done five sweeps of the city in the first hour after she disappeared—but there was nothing else he knew to do.

He decided to start at the place he'd noticed her missing, the middle of 3rd Street. He sped in that direction and was greeted with an unusual sight.

A hole hovered in mid-air.

He drew close to it, half-curious and half-suspicious. He knew better than to stand under it, but he circled it tightly, wondering all the while.

Without warning, Amy Rose tumbled through the hole, impacting on the pavement.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted, rushing to her side. He glanced up long enough to confirm that the hole was vanishing, then turned his full attention to the prone hedgehog.

She was stunned by the fall, gasping for air, but when she realized who it was, she gained new strength. "Sonic!" she screamed, and with what little energy she could muster, she clamped on to him.

"Amy…" said Sonic, blushing mightily. It wasn't just her actions; she had a coating of muck and grime over her fur and she smelled terrible. He tried for a few seconds to get her off of him, but when he paused slightly, he realized she was weeping. He stopped what he was doing, letting her hold onto him, feeling her tears soak into his shoulder-fur.

"I'm… home…" she said, between sobs.

"Yeah," he said, ruffling her hair. "You're home." Her tears intensified again. Sonic's hands were idle by his sides, his uncertainty paralyzing. But as seconds passed and she showed no signs of change, he slowly began moving them. After several aching moments, he settled one hand on her shoulder, one on the small of her back. He looked to the sky.

And Sonic Hedgehog, who was widely known to have no patience whatsoever, who was unable to sit still unless physically unconscious, held that pose until Amy Rose finally passed out.

* * *

"Well… I wish some of the components had fallen through the hole, at least."

"Tails!" Amy shrieked. "Here I am, pouring out my heart to you, explaining the biggest and most terrible adventure I've ever been on… and all you can think of is, Why didn't she get me a souvenir?"

"I'm sorry!" Tails said, shrinking. He waited until her anger had abated before adding, "But you should be glad I'm even listening."

Amy huffed. "Yeah, Sonic left town as soon as I was back."

"You did embarrass the heck out of him in the middle of town," Tails said.

"I guess," Amy said emptily. Of course, she thought to herself, he didn't really freak out until AFTER he'd gotten me safely to my apartment…

"Hey, you're spacing out," Tails said.

Amy shook her head. "Sorry. But you know, I've had a lot to think about."

"Sounds like it," said Tails, turning back to some mechanical components.

Amy smiled. "Yeah, I can see how much you care."

"Give me a break, you've been telling me about it for three hours now! I need to let my ears regenerate."

Amy laughed. "Alright then, how about I explain it all in one or two sentences?"

"I'd like to see you try," Tails replied.

"Then I will," she said defiantly, and sat back in her chair to think. Almost a minute passed, but then she sat forward and spoke very clearly.

"The people of Knothole had strength, and bravery, and all the other things you're supposed to have when your life is tragic, incessant warfare. They had all the sorrows and joys normal people have, too, and still something more that makes them unforgettable. They could find, in each other, the strength to carry on… no matter what."

Silence.

"That was three sentences."

"Tails!"

"Well, the only reason I encouraged you was because I thought it'd take more thinking than that!"

"Keep talking like that, Tails, and I'll run an experiment with those components that involves repeated blows with a mallet."

"Augh! You… you enemy of all science!"

"Not at all," laughed Amy. "Just when I want to be."  
"Alright, time for you to go home!"

Amy laughed. She laughed because she knew.

She was home.

FIN


End file.
